Butchery & Happiness
by JACinthebox
Summary: When 23 year old Sadako is sent on the wrong mission by mistake, she is hunted down by the Akatsuki. But when your shortest, slowest, and weakest of Jounin, what are you to do? Kisame x OC I'm BACK!
1. Sadako

**Title:** Butchery & Happiness  
**Pairing:** Kisame x OC  
**Rating: **T for now (language), may go up higher in later chapters.  
**Summary:** When 23-year-old Sadako is sent on the wrong mission by mistake, she is hunted down by the Akatsuki. But when your shortest, slowest, and weakest of Jounin, what are you to do? Kisame x OC  
**Comments:** Hey, hey, hey...SHUT UP! I deserve to write on OC story in my life, okay? Geez...anyway, please tell me if anyone is too out of character or if my own creation begins to breach border-line Mary Su. Thanks.  
**Warnings:** Um...nothing really bad. A little naughty language, a very little hint of sexual themes. None in this chapter, really, but it will probably get worse.  
**Disclaimer:** I own Sadako, a keyboard, a can of Dr. Pepper, a Tamagotchi, and a floating pink Squid named Commodore. N-no sue me-me please.

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Stunning blue eyes. Two of them, to be exact. Smooth, tanned skin, rosy cheeks; long, wavy, golden hair framing her symmetrical facial features. Plump, luscious lips with a cherry tint. Of course, curvy body to match. An outfit that portrayed a woman who knew what she wanted, and how she would get it. It left just enough covered so you still had to use your imagination a little. She was winking, her hand propped against her hip. A quite…perky posture. Rather inviting, really.

Good morning, Sadako, are you done daydreaming now?

I blinked as I came into realization I had been staring perplexedly at the poster for quite some time now. The weight of the scrolls had begun to leave my arms feeling a tad achy, so I hurriedly turned and began walking again; I felt rather foolish. I was most definitely going to be late now, and I wasn't looking forward to the possibility of Iruka-san being mad at me.

One of my major problems, I have noticed, is that I have much too short of an attention span. I had told myself, very sternly, that I was to go directly to the academy and deliver the scrolls to Iruka-san. No detours. No stopping. Nope. Nada. Zilch.

And yet…

…were there really women who looked like that? Well, of course there were. I, after all, did know a few women who could be considered beautiful by today's masses, but…Well, it just wasn't fair.

My eyes wandered and fell upon a store's window. My reflection.

My hair…I couldn't tell whether it was blonde or brown. My eyes, well, brown. Not golden brown. Not even rich-chocolate brown. More like…dull, hardly noticeable, crap-colored brown. Ough. My skin was pale. Not milky white, but it make me look sickly most of the time. Was that a zit? Oh, boy…

My eyes trailed lower. Still flat-chested. It looked as if puberty decided to play a cruel, unusual joke on me and skip over developing a woman's essentials entirely, yet it still had the gall to leave me dealing with a bloodbath every month. It really didn't help at all that I was only five feet tall; most of the time I was confused for an academy student.

You'd think, that after twenty-three years and six months I would have at least filled out a little bit. My jounin vest didn't help my cause at all, it only made me look more flat-chested. I sighed and snapped away from my reflection, back to reality-land. I continued walking, keeping my eyes ahead of me, lest mine eyes doth be tempted to venture once again. Try to keep a stiff upper lip, old girl, you have a job to do. Looks aren't everything…

…but it's not just the looks, is it? You have more things wrong with you, don't you? Eh? You listening to me, shorty? Its me, your insecurities. I've decided to move in. Nice place you have here. Can't say I like the view too much, though.

I shifted the weight of the scrolls in my arms. I had been working at the academy for several years now. I've applied to The Powers That Be for over four years, requesting to become a sensei of a three-man-team, yet I've never received a response. At first, I gave them the benefit of the doubt. Maybe they didn't get my résumé. Maybe they're just busy and can't reply. Maybe they just don't need any more sensei right now. Maybe…uh…maybe…

Maybe you're no good?

_Ouch._

I stopped. I was standing in front of the Academy building, yet I found myself stalling. I had been here, many years ago, when I had taken my final exam to become a genin. I had failed the test several times; I remember the day I finally passed I had been ecstatic. Yet, it would be easy to say I hadn't improved as much as what would normally be expected of me. I'm a jounin, yes, but that's partly to blame by dumb luck. My teammates were mostly responsible for getting me through the first two parts of the exam; and, well, during the last part, I was just lucky enough to be matched up against the only guy to forfeit due to previous injuries.

Memories…ah, how precious. Did you forget you were standing idiotically in front of the doorway?

I blinked back to reality. Goodness, my mind was drifting off more than usual today. Gathering the scrolls up in my arms, I entered the academy building. Down the hall, take a left, third door on the right…

I entered the classroom. Iruka was sitting at his wooden desk, engulfed in a stack of papers. He had a frustrated look on his face. My eyes quickly darted to the clock. I gave a sigh of relief when I realized I wasn't late after all, and entered the classroom. I walked up to his desk and cleared my throat.

"Eh, Iruka-san," my voiced squeaked. His head turned up, he looked slightly surprised to see me.

"Eh? Sadako…what do you need? I'm a little busy at the moment…"

My cheeks flushed. He had forgotten he had sent me off to pick up the scrolls from the mission-dispersion office downtown. I swallowed and cleared my throat again. My voice was docile.

"Er, um…I'm just here to deliver some stuff you asked me to get, um, Iruka-san."

He looked at me momentarily as if I had a large lime-green lobster crawling out of my nose. I grew red.

"Er…the mission scrolls, sir." I continued. He blinked, and a sudden realization snapped in and he nodded his head frantically. He reached to help me set them on the table.

"Oh, yeah, yeah...uh, thanks Sadako." he said. Poor thing, he was far too overworked. If I was capable of doing so, I would have stopped myself, but as always I had to offer,

"Um, is there anything else I can do to help, Iruka-san?"

Luckily, he shook his head.

"No, you're done for today…go on home," He waved me off. I nodded and happily turned to leave, just in case something should pop up and he call after me. I felt bad, really, I did, but he couldn't expect me to run around doing his errands all day, could he? I mean, technically, he's a chuunin, so I should outrank him, right?

…riiiiiight?

…Just shut up and keep walking, Sadako.

"Oh, wait, Sadako?"

I halted. Should have walked faster, I should. I turned my head to face him again.

"Er…._yes_?" I asked.

His cheeks flushed as he spoke in an embarrassed tone. "Uh…there is one thing, if you don't mind."

Mind? I had a life to get to. It was Saturday for crying out loud. Of course I minded.

"No, not at all. What is it you need?" I replied.

You pushover.

Iruka turned to his desk and shuffled through some papers. He found the one he was looking for and plucked it from the pile before handing it to me.

"Would you mind doing a mission in my place?"

I perked. A mission? A real, honest-to-God mission? Like, with bad guys? And the fighting? And the being a ninja for once in my pathetic career? I swallowed, still in slight disbelief. He had to be joking. Would they even let _me_, of all people, actually go on a _mission_? A _real _mission, I mean? I cleared my throat.

"A…um….mission, s-sir?" I asked. My voice cracked. Well, can you blame me? I was excited. Unfortunately, my hopes were shot back down when he replied.

"Uh, well, it's just a simple D-rank one…" he began. "I just need you to deliver a scroll in my place. The note will give you authority to do so. Well, that is, if you don't mind…" his voice trailed off. My head fell.

Oh, of course. Being a delivery girl. As usual. I sighed. Well, what could I do? I took the paper from him.

"No problem, Iruka-san. I don't mind at all." I replied, trying my hardest to portray a sunny disposition. He smiled at me.

"Thanks a million. If I'm done with my work when you get back, I'll buy you dinner as payment, all right?"

I felt my cheeks burn. O-oh wow…dinner? From a _guy_? A _real _guy? That…well, that has never happened before. Sure, it was just Iruka, my co-worker. And sure he couldn't possibly mean it anymore than just a simple thank-you, but…well, _damn _it was nice to get taken to dinner by a man for a change!

My face was red. "S-sure! Sounds great, Iruka-san!" I beamed. With a newfound motivation, I turned and left, heading on my way to the mission dispersion office.

I didn't even notice the seductive poster on my way back there, either.

_-to be continued in the next installment-_


	2. Mission!

**Comments: **After this chapter, I hope to make each one a little bit longer. I plan on updating every week or so, hopefully. I still haven't planned how many chapters this will be, so bare with me. No rating changes in this chapter, so no worries.

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I made good time, surprisingly, I believe the prospect of dinner-with-a-man had something to do with it. I grinned. Since it was a D-mission, this should be no problem at all. I'll get the scroll, deliver it, and be back in time to get ready for my date.

…wait, date?

…Well, no, not a date really. I shook my head. I was getting a little too excited about something this simple. It was a little sad, really. Iruka-san was just being nice. You're just blowing this out of proportion, you twit.

…but a girl can dream, right?

I stopped when I came to the doors of the office building. All right, Sadako. Time to get serious. Perhaps, if you get this mission done quickly, and with no errors, then you can impress the guys at the office. Maybe you'll get assigned on missions more often. Maybe you can astound even the Anbu, and then Hokage-sama will give you high regards and a cushy seat in the big leagues. Haha, and then no one will ever call you _shorty _again. Ever.

I hadn't noticed, but I was grinning and giggling like an idiot in front of the building. Snapping into realization, I quickly regained my composure. I think I saw some people snickering at me through the window. Nice going, Sadako, you dope.

"Ah! Sadako-chan! I see your out and about today!"

I jumped and turned. I was greeted by a grinning bowl-cut in spandex. I flushed.

"Eh -heh-heh-heh…Good morning, Gai-san." I replied as politely as I could muster. He walked up to me.

"What are you up to, anyway, Sadako-chan?"

I heart dropped. The ever-dreaded "_-chan_" stung my pride like a berserker scorpion. Ough. I felt like screaming. Did everyone in this Godforsaken village think of my height first?

"Um, well, I was kind of in a rush, Gai-_kun_." I replied, adding an extra emphasis on the_"-kun_." Unfortunately, he didn't even seem to notice.

"Rush?" he asked. His interest obviously piqued. I nodded.

"I have a mission." I said. Wow, that sounded really weird coming from me. I couldn't help but feel a beam of pride from within as the words rolled easily off of my tongue. Haha. A mission. For me.

"Oh," he replied. His gaze fell. He looked as if he were thinking about something. I cocked my head.

"…did you need something?" I asked. There was a pause before he replied.

Then, quickly, his head snapped up and his trademark grin was once again plastered across his face. I jumped at his sudden reaction. The guy was way too perky, it didn't seem natural. I had a theory that his leotard was on too tight, it cut away the circulation to his brain. Or maybe his hair was hiding some sort of mind control device that was implanted on him by aliens.

…wait, what?

I had just forgotten what I was doing when he spoke again. His voice was very…um…_peppy_.

"Well then, I guess you'll be free tomorrow then." he said. It was more of a statement than a question. Even if it had been a question, he spoke again before I could reply. "Well, I suppose I'll see you later then, ha!" he turned and continued to walk past me, the very essence of youth beaming off of him.

Sometimes that guy gave me the friggin' creeps. And what the heck was that supposed to mean, anyway?

Then, I realized I was still standing before the entryway. Quickly, I entered the building so as not to draw any attention to myself. The usual secretary was not sitting at the desk. I cocked my head. There wasn't anyone here.

Was…was the office closed? I glanced at the clock. It was only noon. I scanned the room again. Nope, no one. Suddenly feeling rather docile, I squeaked out,

"Um…h-hello? Is anyone here?" I called. I took a step in closer.

I heard a noise from behind.

Quickly, I turned. If I was any good at my job and had half of a brain, I would have remember to take defensive maneuvers and gotten out a kunai, but I didn't realize it until I saw the person standing behind me. Black outfit, mask…

Anbu…? What on earth was an Anbu Nin doing here? I felt my throat go dry. I blushed in embarrassment. I was about to say something, but the owl-masked stranger spoke first.

"Are you the one here for the scroll-delivery mission to Kirigakure?" he asked.

I halted. Scroll-delivery? Oh, yes. That. I nodded dumbly. I got out my identification.

"…jounin?" he asked, looking t my identification. I blushed.

"U-uh, yes. I was sent here from the academy, um, specifically." I said. Specifically? Wow, you really sound smart, don't you?

Well, he nodded nonetheless and pulled a large tubular object off of his back. It took me a moment to realize that it was indeed a scroll. It was rather large, I knew it was going to be a pain in the butt to carry around. He handed it to me, along with an address.

I slung it over my back. It was heavier than I thought, but I struggled to retain my composure in front of the Anbu Op. I took the address envelope. I looked at it thoughtfully.

"Do not look at your instructions until you have cleared Konoha gates," he said.

That was rather odd. I looked up to protest, but he wasn't there.

I was alone.

Okay…creepy.

Dang, those Anbu were really quick. I was confused why there had been one in the office, and why my mission instructions had been so…_unusual_, but I decided to mull on that once I had gotten out of Konoha.

Wow, where exactly was this thing going, if not anywhere in Konoha? Not too far, I hope. This is was heavy, and awkwardly shaped, at that.

A I walked out of the building and to the village gates, I let myself begin to daydream. Yes, a full-grown women who was supposed to representing a powerful, mysterious kunzite from the land of fire, was daydreaming. Hey, I may be on a mission, but I can at least try to enjoy myself. And when I got back later, I would defiantly be enjoying myself.

Iruka-san would be taking me out to eat. Haha! I blushed like an idiotic fan girl at the thought. Don't get the wrong idea, I don't particularly have a crush on Iruka, I just think the idea of going out somewhere with a guy would be wonderful.

Oh dear, did that sound a little petty? I hope not. Iruka-san is a nice guy, I mean. I respect him as a ninja and stuff, but it never really occurred to me that me may be dating material. But now that I think about it, why not? He was cute, funny, charming…

...and your co-worker.

Oh, yeah. There's that.

My head fell. Ough. You're getting pretty ridiculous, Sadako.

I stopped just as I came to the dirt path just outside of Konoha. I shifted the heavy scroll on my back as I reached into my pocket and pulled out my instructions.

"Kirigakure Dilivery, to the Mizukage."

I blinked.

Mizukage?

Kirigakure?

I...had to go all the way to the _mist_!? This had to be a joke! That would take _days_...!

Suddenly, Iruka seemed a lot more unfavorable than before.

_-to be continued in the next installment-_


	3. On the Road

**Comments:** This chapter is shorter than I wanted it to be. My computer kept freezing and blah blah insert excuse here. Kisame appears in this chappie, hurray! Oh, and thank you all for your reviews. They really make my day. Also, I apologise for the typos in the last chapter. I don't have spellcheck, so it's hard for me to notice my mistakes.

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So, there I was. Three miles out an my legs where already beginning to grow sore. I blame the giant scroll on my back weighing me down. And Iruka. And the Hokage. And the guy who invented candy corn. Not because I think he is somehow linked to my misfortune, it's just I don't particularly care for candy corn, and when one is in a rotten mood, one tends to find and excuse to complain about anything.

You are probably asking yourself why on earth I am actually going through with this mission, as tedious and protracted it might be? Well, I gave it some thought, I really did. And, after carefully contemplating on which sort of action I should take, I decided it would be best to complete the task.

Yes, I am unprepared for this week-long journey, I realize this. But, as a jounin one of my essential skills is the ability to survive off of the land comfortably for several days at a time. Of course, I took this action way sooner than I should have, because I realized I should have gone and packed some clothes or something. However, I _am _already a good distance out, and I absolutely refuse to carry this godforsaken scroll any longer than necessary by going back.

I looked like an old woman with scoliosis the way I was hunched over. Well, look on the bright side, Sadako. It's not like you have any humongous breasts weighing you down. Hey, for one being flat-chested might pay off!

…God, sometimes I hate myself.

It was a hot day. Very unusual for January, but it made me thankful for my sleeveless attire. My short haircut kept the back of neck from growing hot, even though it was at the expense of looking like a boy. There was a small breeze as well, so traveling temperature wasn't extremely unpleasant.

At around 4 o'clock I stopped to lay under a tree for a break. My shoulders ached from the scroll, but I dreaded the thought of having to pick it back up so I busied my mind with other matters. More important matters. Such as…I wonder if Iruka realizes I'm going to be gone for so long? And, will I get a reward for this solo mission? Will they finally see my greatness? Will Tsunade-sama finally let me apply for a team? Why is it so hot in January? And why do fat people think they look good in those belly shirts?

After a good twenty minutes or so, it was back on the road. I had been to Kirigakure a few times in my earlier missions, with my teammates, so I remembered the shortest path there. The somewhat familiar scenery brought back several memoirs of my younger years. I hadn't looked much different then.

Kiro and Toshiyo where my two former teammates. Well, they were still _technically _my teammates, but they had moved on to bigger an better things. Last I heard Toshiyo had been accepted into a special Anbu training program and will be in the elites by April. Kiro had become a top medical nin, and now he's the head of the medical staff for the Anbu Search-And-Rescue Team. My sensei, Shigure, had been assigned another team, fresh out of the academy, and is as strong as ever. And where am _I_, you ask?

…Working as an assistant delivery-girl for a man named after a large aquatic mammal. Sometimes, I think the only use I had for being in a team at all was to provide the necessary Y chromosome, and I didn't even do _that _very well.

Wow, I'm rather whiney today, aren't I? I don't like complaining about my ill fortune, really, I don't, but when I'm not occupying myself with other things, I tend to go into a self-loathing phase. Yeah, it gets pretty annoying. I should probably work on that.

By the time it had begun to grow dark, I started to realize I wasn't going to make it to a civilization anytime tonight. I chose a clearing and went through the tedious ritual of making camp. And, of course, since I knew no one was watching me, I began singing like an idiot.

Just as I finished baying, off-key, the last stanza of Konoha's National Anthem, I heard a rustling noise from behind me. My eyes immediately darted to the scroll, which I had set down next to a log. I waited. There was another…very _quiet_…rushing through the thicker treed areas surrounding me. Instinctively, I reached for my kunai pouch. I felt my throat go dry and my knees begin to shake.

_No, no, no…you idiot, this is no time to be a coward!_

I was stiff. There was a faint noise again. I swallowed hard.

Someone was watching me.

Bandits? Thieves?

The shuffling noise grew louder, more rapid. I saw directly in front of me a bush shaking. Something was coming out from behind it. Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy…

Marauders? Rogues?

It grew louder. I saw a dark figure emerge. I could feel my heartbeat pulsating in my ears like a loud obnoxious tribal drum.

Assassins? Outlaws?

Here it comes…

…squirrel?

I blinked stupidly. The furry rodent blinked back and cocked its head. Sighing, I lowered my weapon. Steady, Sadako. You're way too tense; it's only your first night out, you're not going to run into trouble until you get deeper into the forest.

…or not at all, preferably. After all, it didn't seem likely. This mission was D-ranked, so it was very evident that this scroll wasn't important enough to get attacked over. That was really good for me, because I doubt I could fight back any opposing threat with the pressure of protecting the scroll on my shoulders. I exhaled deeply and plopped myself down on the dirt next to where I had laid the scroll.

It was starting to get cool, I should probably build a fire. As I sat and mused over things, my eyes trailed to my furry assaulter, who was still staring thoughtfully back at me. Despite my foolishness, I couldn't help but laugh out loud. Haha, you really need to calm down. I know you have a fear of the dark, but jeez you're just acting absurd. Just stick with the beaten path and protect the scroll from any m ore evil squirrels and you should be fine. Hey, speaking of scrolls…

…where is the one I was supposed to protect?

I shot up to my feet. It was missing. Quickly, my head frantically darted back an forth, searching for any trace of it. It was just here, I _know _it was. I was _looking _right at it. It couldn't have just walked of. How did it disappear…? Unless…

I heard a rustling from behind. My spine stiffened. Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap…

I turned.

White eyes stared back at me. I almost jumped out of my skin from fright. Blue skin, sharp facial features, grinning rows of endless teeth. Dark, ominous cloak. In his hand…

…the scroll.

"…alone, are you? This should be easy." he chuckled under his breath. His voice was as dark and portentous as he was.

Oh, bollocks.

I knew I shouldn't have agreed to go on this mission.

_-to be continued in the next installment-_


	4. Shorty & Sharky

**Comments:** Not very happy with how this chapter came out, but I'm glad that the plot is starting to thicken! Ah hah! Thanks for all the reviews, I really appriciate them very much. Let's get this show on the road!

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I stood there, staring stupidly, for several moments. I decided not to move, because there was a small possibility he hadn't even seen me and was really addressing someone else. That happened to me a lot, and did seem to make sense, yet there was one small flaw in this idea…

….there wasn't anyone else _here_, you twit.

I swallowed and got out a kunai. Terrified or not, I had a job to do. Maybe this guy wasn't as powerful as he looked. He grinned a row of sharp, horrifying teeth.

….yeah, right. Nice wishful thinking. Suck it up, Sadako. I swallowed again and tried to steady my quivering hand.

"Who…who you?" I asked.

Oh, wow, great job there. Maybe next time you should try using an actual sentence? I can see him shaking in his boots. …Er, sandals.

"I'm a bit in a rush, so I'll just exterminate you quickly and be on my way," he replied.

I felt my throat go dry. Well, what did you expect? This guy gave me the creeps. Somehow, I mustered the courage to take a step forward. You have time to be scared later, right now, get that scroll back. He rose an eyebrow in interest. Obviously, he was surprised I had decided to take action. His hand lifted and clutched the handle of what I assumed to be a large sword. I couldn't tell, because it was wrapped up.

Well, I might as well finish what I started…

"I don't think so, unhand the scroll." I said. I was actually quite impressed with myself, I did sound rather convincing. Unfortunately, he didn't seem to appreciate my fine acting as much as I did and pulled his weapon out.

I felt beads of sweat begin to grow on my forehead. This guy was big. And scary. Did I mention big? How the heck was I supposed to catch him off guard…?

...it was simple, I couldn't.

Well, now that we have that out of the way, care to explain what you're going to do about it? I obviously couldn't overpower him, that was humiliatingly obvious, but perhaps there was something else I could do. All I had to do was make it so he couldn't make off with the scroll, right? So…what if I made it so the scroll couldn't be separated from _me_?

Holy crackerjacks, Sadako, you're a bloody genius. Now, how are you going to go about doing that?

Then, I had an idea. I seemed to be having a lot of those lately. He was awaiting eagerly my next move, I could tell by his amused grin; I bit my bottom lip. I had to very careful to get close enough to the scroll to do this. This guy was big, perhaps he would be slow, too. Maybe…

I jumped to the left as fast as I could and tried my hardest to dart around quickly; I lunged towards him. My kunai was in front, to protect my face, yet I didn't even realize it when it was knocked out of my hand. It took me another moment to realize that horrible taste in my mouth was dirt.

There was a horrid pain in my head. My face was being pressed violently into the earth, a strong hand clutching the back of my skull. My stomach was also flat on the ground as well, his large foot was pressing hard on my spine. I cried out in pain and surprise. How…how on earth did he…?

"Too slow." he stated.

He had really moved that fast? Impossible. I know I was no lighting bolt, but I'm fairly sure I should have at least seen him _move_…

…Oh boy, this is going to be harder than I thought.

"G-get off of me, you…you big blue _butthead_!" I yelled.

There was a pause.

…oh crap, please don't tell me I just called him a butthead. What was I, four? I couldn't see him, because I was still making out with the ground, but I envisioned he was cocking his head with a questionable look right about now.

"…I haven't been called a butthead since I was eight years old." he said casually. He laughed.

Oh, jeez, you didn't have to make fun of me.

"Get off of me!" I yelled. He snickered. Well, at least one of us was enjoying ourselves. I tried to wiggle away, but I was only rewarded with the fact I looked like a gaping fish. I felt something sharp poke at the back of my neck. I stiffened.

"Stop moving, let's make this quick." he said. I swallowed; my eyes grew big.

Ohsnap I was going to die. Like, really die. As in, not be alive anymore. I wiggle frantically and thrashed my arms around. Luckily, I wasn't panicking too bad.

"OH GOD NO, I'M TOO YOUNG TO DIE! LEMME GO!" I screamed.

Well, sort of.

He pressed harder against my skull.

"Just shut up and stop making such a ruckus, you're only making this harder." he said. I could tell by the tone in his voice he was getting annoyed with me. I thrashed around more frantically like a beheaded chicken until, by luck, I smacked him in the face with the back of my hand.

He jumped back in surprise, releasing me momentarily. I saw this moment as one of opportunity and sprang to my feet. I anxiously darted my head around until I spotted the scroll. All right, last chance.

Immediately, I sprang into action. He didn't notice what I was heading towards until I was halfway done with my hand signs.

_Monkey…_

_Tiger…_

_Horse…_

_Dragon…_

My hands glowed a bright blue and I hysterically leapt at the scroll. Luckily, I made it before he did and my hand pressed against the curved surface. It too was temporarily swathed in a bright blue light before fading back into normality.

I fell to my knees and sat there, catching my breath. That had taken a lot more of my very limited chakra than I had thought, but I was certain I had got the job done. He stood there, looking at me and the scroll perplexedly. After a moment, when nothing happened, he spoke.

"…and what exactly where you trying to accomplish there, Shorty? I don't think you did it right." he sported a smug smile. However, his smile faded when he saw my own forming.

"Exactly what I wanted to," I said. Wow, for once, I was actually sure of myself. It felt good.

He looked at me in question. I got to my feet and dusted myself off.

"I'm linked by an unbreakable chakra string to the scroll. As in, it doesn't go anywhere I don't go. Looks like you're out of luck, buddy!" I laughed. However, my laughing was cut short when he lifted his large sword.

"That shouldn't be a problem. I can just kill you, like I was planning on doing in the first place." he said casually.

Oh, yeah. I hadn't thought of that. I swallowed. Quick, Sadako, think of a bluff.

I put on the best smirk I could and continued to play it off. "I wouldn't do that if I were you," I said.

"Oh? And why not?" He asked, smiling. I swallowed, but remained cool.

"Because…uh, since it and I are linked by my chakra solely, um…if you kill me, it will be destroyed." I said. Oh, that's good. Stay with that.

I thanked my lucky stars that he bought it. He scowled and cursed at the ground. I bent over and picked the scroll up before slinging it over my shoulder.

"So, I guess you'll be on your merry way now, eh, Sharky?" I said, confident I had the upper hand. I turned to walk off.

I stopped when I felt a powerful hand gripping my sore shoulder. I momentarily forgot I was playing cool, and my face grew blue with fright.

"I don't think so, Shorty." he said, his voice low and cold. "You're coming with me."

_-to be continued in the next installment-_


	5. Hostage

**Comments:** Since it's Spring Break, I'll be able to update very often. Hopefully I can get a whole bunch done while I can.It's hard keeping Kisame in-character! But I'm trying. (sheepish grin) Thanks for the reviews. I'm really glad people are reading my story, and more importantly, like my character. It makes me happy! Oh, and if you guys have any ideas for a scene or even you would want to see happen, or somthing like that, I might be taking ideas. However, I do have most of the stroy all ready planned out. Wish me luck!  
**Notes to Consider: **The story is being told from Sadako's point of view, but the begining of the chapter, the perspective changes so you can know a little more about what's happening in Konoha. Sorry if it's confusing, but when I started this I didn't think I would be making it this complex. Also, Tsunade reffers to Sadako as "Ai", this is because "Ai" is Sadako's last name.

* * *

Tsunade was not a happy woman at the moment. Her fingers tapped in annoyance against her wooden desk; her other hand propped up her head. Her eyes were narrow. Iruka stood in front of her desk, explaining the situation. The more he talked, the more angry the Hokage became. Iruka began to grow exceedingly nervous, his own folly had brought him here.

"…and now, she took a different one than I was supposed to, and she's been missing since yesterday. I don't know where she got to, Hokage-sama," he finished. Tsunade thought a moment and took a deep breath.

"So, Ai has the Scroll of Fukamaden by mistake?" she asked, trying to remain calm and keep her anger subsided.

Iruka nodded tensely.

Tsunade shut her eyes and rubbed her forehead in vexation. She thought in silence for several moments before speaking again.

"Shizune, get me an Anbu Search Team, immediately." she said. The brunette standing beside her desk nodded frantically and scurried out the door. Iruka's eyes watched her as she left. He blinked and cleared his throat.

"Eh, Hokage-sama," he began meekly. "If you don't mind my asking, er, what exactly is the Scroll of Fukamaden?"

Tsunade took a deep breath. Her eyes did not move, they just continued to stare ahead solemnly.

"Iruka," she began. "It's something that could destroy everything we hold sacred." she paused. Iruka swallowed.

Finally, she looked at him.

"It is essential that we get it back."

Although she had not really answered Iruka's question, he had begun to grasp the severity of the situation. A thing this important…being transported by Little Sadako?

He gulped.

She was probably going to end up dead. This did not bode well.

---

I sneezed. That was unusual for me, because it wasn't allergy season yet. Was someone talking about me? Oh well, I'm sure it didn't matter much.

I was dead tired, and currently trudging behind my new captor. Traveling at night wasn't safe, and luckily he thought it would be easier for me to run off if we walked at night, so we had slept a little bit. Unfortunately, he had gotten me up at the butt-crack of dawn to start walking again. It was currently only seven a.m., but I don't do so good without my twelve hours, so I was already dosing off.

He kept me awake, though. If my eyes started to droop, he would suddenly stop walking and I would find myself running right into him. It usually caused me to fall back and hit my butt, but sometimes I was able to wake up again and catch myself before tumbling over.

We didn't talk. We didn't have anything to say, really. I tried asking him what he wanted with the scroll and where he was taking me, but he completely ignored me every time I attempted to speak to him. I know he's supposed to be a horrendous criminal, and I know I'm supposed to be his hostage, but he didn't have to be _rude_.

Around noon, I felt my back was going to break from the weight of this godforsaken thing if I did not get any rest. I stopped dead in my tracks and sat down, right in the middle of the road. I pulled the scroll off of my back and set it beside me. He stopped and turned around.

"Get up," he said. I glared at him and crossed my arms.

"I'm tired." I replied. His silver eyes narrowed.

"And I don't care." he said back. My face grew red.

"Listen, buddy. I only got four hours of sleep last night, and this scroll is freaking heavy. Unless you want to carry around my fainted body, I suggest you let me sit or awhile!"

What? Lack of sleep makes me grumpy. He just continued to glare at me. He took a step forward and extended his hand. I tensed a little, because for a moment I thought he was going to strike me. However, he didn't. He just reached forward and grasped his hand around the scroll's handle. I rolled my eyes.

"You're not going to get very far," I said. "It won't go anywhere I don-"

Before I could finish, he turned and started walking, dragging the scroll with him. A second later, I felt the earth moving beneath me. I looked down. I was moving…?

I yelled at myself internally. He was using my chakra string against me! He was dragging me along with ease by the invisible string I attached to the scroll. What a jerk! Well, at least I don't have to walk anymore. But my butt hurts now.

I tried to get to my feet, but he was dragging me too fast and I fell over. I tried again, but he walked faster. Okay, now he was just being immature.

"Stop walking for a second, let me get up!" I yelled at him. He pretended to not hear me and kept walking.

I made several other attempts to get up, but finally gave up and just allowed him to drag me around like a potato sack. Well, what else was I supposed to do? I crossed my arms and stared at the sky. Rock. I blinked. Another rock. I sat up.

Ow…I rubbed the back of my head. I think I was starting to chafe. I cleared my throat.

"Uh…could you _please _stop?" I said. It took him a few moments to respond, but he slowed down and eventually came to a stop.

Quickly, I got to my feet and dusted myself off. He thrust the scroll back to me and motioned for me to keep walking. My gaze fell.

"Um, Sharky," I began, situating the scroll on my back once more. He responded in a low voice.

"Don't call me that," he replied. I hesitated.

"Do you have a name?" That was a stupid question. Everybody has a name. I meant along the lines of "what is your name?", but sometimes I speak before thinking. He stayed quiet and just kept walking. I sighed.

"I'm just going to call you Sharky unless you give me something to address you by." I said. He hesitated.

"Kisame," he finally said.

"Hm?"

"That's my name. Not that you needed to know."

I grinned. Although I was kind of disappointed I wouldn't be able to call him "Sharky" anymore, at least I got him talking to me. Perhaps if I find out more about this weirdo, I could find out a way to escape from him.

"I'm Sadako," I said cheerfully.

"I don't care," he replied.

Well, that was rude. I lowered my head and just kept walking. After a moment, I spoke again.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

No answer.

"Can we stop for a little while?"

No answer.

"…are we there yet?"

He stopped abruptly, which caused me to jump. I glanced over and noticed his eye was twitching.

"Do you ever _shut up_?" he asked harshly. My expression fell. He didn't have to hurt my feelings like that…

Just when I was about to open my mouth to reply, there was a strange noise filling the air. It was a sort of eerie gurgling sound, rather unpleasant, and it took me several moments to realize it was my stomach. He was staring at me with one eyebrow raised. The gurgling stopped after a moment.

"…I'm hungry," I said.

He sighed and shook his head.

"We're almost at Kikure," he said. He began walking again. I followed and cocked my head.

"Eh? Kikure?" I asked. He must have decided the best way to keep me from talking was to talk himself, so he, for once, decided to answer me.

"We'll be staying the night there. It's a tiny village. I have my eyes on you, so don't even think about messaging anyone for help."

He head shot up. Village. Civilization.

I began to formulate a plan.

_-to be continued in the next installement-_


	6. Kikure

**Comments:** I got this chapter up later than I would have liked, sorry! Also, I'm not too happy with how it is, really...oh well! Hopefully soon Kisame will consider being a little nicer to Sadako. Thanks for the reviews! And good news, I have a BETA, so hopefully it's a little better now. Let me know what you think!

* * *

As promised, we were indeed close to the village. We made it to Kikure around two, so there was a lot of daylight to kill. Unfortunately, once we made it in the town, he made me walk directly in front of him. I noticed that even if I were to stray centimeters to the left, or speed up only slightly, he would tense up like he was about to grab hold of me. I decided to behave myself until I could think of a way to gain someone's attention.

I was hoping at least someone would notice the seven foot shark walking around in broad daylight, but he had placed a large, flat hat on his head. I hadn't noticed him holding it before, so I just assumed he had pulled it out of his ass. Okay, not really.

After walking around the town for some time, he finally came to a stop when we reached an ancient building. He motioned for me to follow him inside.

It was really musty. My nose scrunched up when we entered. On top of that, it was extremely dim, I couldn't make things out very well. He seemed to know exactly where he was going, because he grabbed a hold of my wrist and dragged me along until we reached a front desk. The lady behind the counter seemed cheerful enough.

"Afternoon," she greeted us. "May I help you?"

The taller man cleared his throat. "A double for the night," he said, his voice low.

The lady nodded and began shuffling through some files. She blinked and looked right at me, the sudden attention caused me to blush slightly. She was staring directly at me for several moments, before her gaze trailed to Kisame, then back at me. Her lips curved into a grin.

"A ho ho ho…are you two lovers?" she asked.

I almost jumped, my face turned beet red. A second, it wore off, and I giggled inwardly at the ridiculous idea. However, the prospect immediately formulated a ridiculous ruse to get on the portentous man's nerves. Quickly, I took my free hand and looped it around his arm. I spoke before he did, instantly,

"Oh yes. We're on our honeymoon." I said with feigned giddiness. He looked down at me, shocked, and quickly sputtered,

"N-no, we're not,"

I grinned and poked at his chest.

"Honey-Bunny's just a little shy," I cooed. The lady at the counter was giggling as she handed him our room key. I couldn't tell in the dim room, but I think the corners of his cheeks were turning a pale pink. He snatched the keys and yanked his arm away from me.

"_Don't _call me that." he said firmly. I was a little disappointed that he wasn't getting as flustered as I liked, but I continued the ploy anyway. My face lowered in erroneous hurt,

"You don't have to be so mean to me…_sweetie_."

He ignored me and turned to walk off. Snickering to myself, I followed. Although it was shadowy in the room, I could see him flinch when the receptionist called after us,

"You two have _fun _tonight,"

The entire way to the room, I couldn't contain the fit of giggles I had burst into. Don't get the wrong idea, the thought of sharing a honeymoon with brutal criminal, especially one as unappealing and amphibious as this guy, was nothing short of repulsive. However, the severe admonishment awaiting me surely was well worth the sight of seeing Kisame, the all-powerful hardened criminal, go pink in the cheeks.

It made me feel like I had been in control for once.

However, when we got to the room, he didn't really yell at me at all. He just sort of glared at me with his white, dead-fish looking eyes. It kind of gave me the creeps, and caused my back to go stiff. I all of a sudden got the impression that he wanted me to cease pulling anymore crap like that. I swallowed and busied myself by pulling the blinds open to let some light in.

He leant his massive sword (that in my opinion resembled a giant tampon; I chose to keep this to myself however,) against a chair. I set the scroll on the floor and stretched out my aching shoulder muscles for awhile. After a moment of silence, he spoke.

"We still have plenty of daylight, I'm going into town to get some things." he said. I head perked up.

"Eh? Am I not going?" I asked, trying to hide the hopeful squeak in my voice. He took a step towards me and shook his head.

"No, you're staying right here."

I narrowed my eyes. "And how are you so sure I'll stay put?"

He grinned, toothy, sinister, scary. With painted nails he pointed ay my foot.

"You're not the only one who knows about chakra ropes, Shorty."

I looked down, surprised. Around my ankle, glittering a bright blue, was a thin string of chakra. It was attached fast to the metal heating system connected steadfastly to the wall. I blinked in shock. He was all the way on the other side of the room, he didn't even _touch _me. How on earth could he…?

…oh yeah. Fast. I remember.

Panicked, I looked up with a pleading face.

"Don't leave me here! Please! Let me go into town, I'll be good! I promise I'll behave!" I whined. I got on my knees and mustered up the best begging face I could. Rather melodramatic of me, but when I panic I tend to become a little uproarious. If I was stuck here until he got back, then there was no way I could contact anyone on the outside. He chuckled.

"No," he said. "I can't have you pulling anymore crap. Stay here and behave or I'll cut off your legs." he turned to leave.

Hysterically, I leapt forward and clamped myself onto his legs.

"NO!" I shouted, sounding rather like a child having a tantrum, "I promise I won't annoy you any more!" He stood there and rolled his eyes. He stepped away, yanking his legs out of my grasp. I just lied there like a pathetic slug and watched him walk off.

After he left, it took me several moments to sit up and quickly skip past the automatic self-pity phase. I tried getting up and walking around a bit, but walking aggravated my ankle. I made several attempts to break the chakra string or reverse it, but thirty minutes into that and I had expensed all ideas on how to do so except for chewing through it.

…and now my teeth hurt.

Sighing, I got on the bed and lied on my back. The sad thing is, any other ninja, _any other, _if they would have been sent on this mission in my place, they would have had no problem getting free from this stupid chakra rope. Actually, if they were in my position, they probably wouldn't have been caught in the first place.

I sat up and examined my surroundings. Blah. Plain, boring atmosphere. A dresser, no T.V., closet, bathroom, chair, one bed…

I cocked my head. Eh? I looked around. The only bed was the one I was sitting one, and I hadn't even noticed it until now. My face turned beet red. The receptionist lady must have given us the bed with one room because of me…

I jumped up. Oh no, what where we going to do? Well, let's see, there were two options I could think of.

If Kisame was a gentleman, he would take the floor and allow the lady to sleep in the bed. However, the thought of that giant walking sardine doing _anything _gentlemanlike made me laugh hysterically, so that unfortunately only left one more option. I was going to take the floor.

I sighed. It looks like my back was going to be in even more pain in the morning.

_-to be continued in the next installment-_


	7. Contemplations

**Comments:** Woot! Glad I had time to write this, my Spring Break is over. Hey, March 18th was Kisame's birthday. Happy late birthday to him!

* * *

I was given a rather rude awakening around eleven thirty at night. I clung tenaciously to the covers; absolutely refusing to get up. After several moments of me repudiating to yield, a strong hand took me by the shoulder and yanked me onto the floor. I jumped up, startled, and quickly pulled the sheets off of my head so I could see properly. My reluctant roommate was glaring down at me. I yawned and scratched my head. 

"Hm? Kisame?" I said, still half-asleep. "It's about time you got back, I had started to think you had forgotten about me…"

My eyes glanced at the clock. It was late. He had taken so long to return, I had gone to sleep hours ago. I had taken the liberty of trying to claim the bed, hoping the first-come, first-serve rule would apply. However, I became aware this wasn't the case as he slipped in the bed himself and threw a limp pillow at me while I sat on the floor.

Huffing, I set the pillow on the floor and spread the sheet out to make the situation a little more comfortable. The problem was now that I was awake, I knew I was going to have a hell of a time falling back asleep. Heaving out a frustrated sigh, I sat up and hugged my pillow. My eyes glanced at Kisame lying up on the bed, his eyes shut in sleep.. Hm, wow, he _did _have eyelids…

My eyes trailed to the wall in front of me. Peculiar, but I hadn't really grasped the severity of my situation. I was in a hotel room, in the middle of the night, shackled by an unbreakable string of chakra to a heating system, with a horrendous criminal. And I was in just a T-shirt. A bead of sweat slid down my brow.

_Ohsnap_, I really needed to get cracking with that escape plan. I mean, what was he going to do when we got to….wherever the hell we are going? I swallowed hard. I was going to be _tortured_! Possibly _raped_! Most likely _killed_! I grew uncomfortably stiff. My eyes slowly trailed back to the man…

…a set of white eyes stared back.

I jumped. He was awake. A moment passed, I clutched my chest in an attempt to still my rapidly beating heart. I must have made a weird shrieking noise when I jumped, because he was chuckling at me.

"Shut up! It's not funny!" I spat in between gasps. He showed a set of sharp teeth.

"A little jumpy, are we?" I glared at him. "You make funny faces when you're thinking," he observed. Yeah, yeah, now he was making fun of me again.

Sighing, I rubbed my forehead in frustration. He was still chortling, so I shot another nasty glare at the big blue jerk.

"I can't sleep. I'm just a young beautiful woman at the hands of a sinister unsightly convict such as yourself."

He laughed even harder. My face grew red with anger. Okay, now he was just insulting me. What the hell was so damn funny?

"Don't flatter yourself," he said once his laughing had ceased. I kept glaring at him. "You're not my type,"

"Oh? And what is? The kind with gills and a blowhole?" I snorted. Unfortunately, he didn't think it was very funny nor insulting, because his face remained constant.

"No," he replied. "more like the kind with breasts."

LOW BLOW, FOWL. FOWL. _FOWL_! Where the _hell _is the ref?

My teeth grinded together, the only thing I could do to keep myself from biting off my tongue. Yes, yes, I know. I don't have boobs. I didn't need this large…hideous…blue…despicable…shark...t_hing _reminding me! I so did not have to take this! Furiously, I picked up the closest thing to me -my pillow- and chugged it at his big fat stupid head.

He let out a loud laugh and turned around. Great. Kisame one, Sadako zero. And now he had my pillow, too. I crossed my arms and huffed loudly. My eyes trailed angrily across the room and fell upon a particular large entity. My lips curved into a devilish smile.

Sly, old girl, sly…

"…at least I don't fight with a giant tampon."

The last words of the night were so totally worth the large lumps on my head the next morning.

---

We left the hotel early. He had gotten up before I had, and had undone the chakra binding. I didn't have time to shower, much to my dislike, but I was able to grab a muffin on the way out. Although the breakfast was free, he wasn't interested at all in staying long enough for the receptionist lady to spot us again. I'm a small person, but dammit, I need a lot of food to function. Low blood sugar, you see.

I think he was a little mad at me, but I really didn't care. We walked out of the village with silence, and I waved goodbye to my last chance of contacting anyone there. Sighing, I shifted the weight on my back and trudged onward. The weather was acting really freaky, and all of a sudden it had dropped a good twenty-five degrees since yesterday.

After awhile, I worked up the gall to speak to him. I asked him how long we were going to walk. He grunted and said we wouldn't be reaching another town until tomorrow. That, of course, meant we would be walking until it got dark. My already aching back was going to hurt even worse. He walked ahead of me and didn't seem to notice.

It is strange to think this cold, quiet man was the same laughing at me last night. I cocked my head, studying him from behind. He was rather peculiar. How does one find himself a giant walking shark? And look at his hair…ough, sticking straight up. It was if he had never heard of a hairbrush. The front of his face…those lines under his eyes. Were they gills? He was breathing above water…perhaps they were just tattoos of some sort. Or a demon's marking. That would make sense. It would defiantly explain his atypical exterior.

Then, a rather alarming thought suddenly jumped into my head. It came from the sudden pain from my ankle, where the chakra string had been. If he had been knowledgeable enough to create a chain as strong as that…wouldn't he know that my fib on my own was just a load of B.S.?

My back stiffened. Perhaps…perhaps he though my jutsu had been a little more advanced? Maybe…I was just lucky he was really stupid, or I was a really good actress? Oh, boy…my head hurts.

We walked quietly for most of the day. Around four, he stopped (thank God), and we set camp. We had walked quite awhile, so I was thankful I was able to rest. I set the scroll next to me and sat on a log. He made a fire and sat down across from me. My stomach growled.

"K…Kisame," I said. He looked up with just his eye, not moving his head. It was slightly unnerving.

"Hm," he grunted. I kept my gaze at the fire. It was growing dark quickly, and unusually early.

"We…should get something to eat?" I ventured. He was quiet for a moment.

"There is a stream near by."

I perked. Water.

_Bath!_

"Oh, we can get some fish," I said. Pointing out the obvious, as usual. I lowered my gaze and my cheeks burned a little. "And, um…" I trailed off. He looked up at me and waited for me to continue.

"Hm?" I looked back up at him, putting on my best begging face.

"Can I like, take a bath? Like, all private like?" He blinked.

"Why didn't you do that at the hotel?" he asked. My eyes narrowed.

"You rushed out this morning. And I'm all sweaty. Please? I promise I won't run or nothing,"

He was quiet. He shook his head, obviously thinking I was ridiculous. Finally, he said,

"Okay, fine, whatever. You have ten minutes. And if you're not back in that time, I'm hunting you down and chopping your legs off."

Despite his overused threat, I jumped for joy.

_-to be continued in the next installment-_


	8. Hygiene & Daydreams

**Comments:** So sorry for the late update! And thanks for the reviews. Oh, one thing I noticed, a few chapters back, I made a chromosome mistake. I confused the male chromosomes (XY) with the female ones (XX), so please forgive me for that. Anyway, I hope to update with the next chapter by next week, so bear with me!

* * *

Pure liquid bliss covered my entire body. I lowered myself completely into the water; It was so refreshing I didn't even mind the insane cold. I knew I had to be quick, I know, but once I got in there….well, I quite frankly, just didn't want to get out. I washed my hair with a small bar of soap (I stole it from the hotel,) and scrubbed my aching body thoroughly.

However, after quite awhile (a good fifteen minutes past my expected returning time,) I finally forced myself out of the hospitable waters. I looked around several times, cautiously, before emerging from the stream. It was at this moment I realized that I lacked one very important essential needed for one to dry off from taking a bath.

I didn't have a damn _towel_.

And, to top that off, I was freezing. And naked. I didn't want to ruin my clothes by getting in them wet, so I took the only logical course of action and began to formulate a plan. And by formulate a plan, I mean stand there like an idiot freezing to death.

I quickly did my best to wring out my hair. Luckily, I noticed a spot where there was a spot that still had a little sunlight. It was only around five o'clock, but the sun had begun to set. I decided to sit there for a few moments and see if it were enough to get dry.

You see, my lack of modesty comes from my childhood. To put bluntly; I never had to worry about peeping toms or perverts looking at me naked. One, I was flat-chested and a little pudgy; Two, most people at first glance thought I was a boy. That actually came in handy in certain situations, though. When I was an adolescent, creeps only hit on my tall, beautiful, big-breasted friends. See, aren't I fortunate?

I stiffened when I heard a noise. I turned, and from a few feet away I could make out someone coming towards me. I jumped up, panicked, and darted behind a bush.

_Oh, snap_. I forgot he said he was going to come get me if I took too long…

The tall figure of Kisame, my jail keeper, edged closer and stopped within three feet of my hiding place. I crouched down, panicking. I flustered as he turned in my direction. _Please, don't come any closer…_

"…what the hell are you doing?" he asked.

I swallowed.

"Um…I'm trying to consume my needed nutrition through this bush via osmosis." I replied. What the _hell_? Okay, yeah, by now you should know I say stupid things when I'm nervous.

"Stop being a smartass and come on, you're taking way too long…" he took a step forward.

"_Don't come any closer!_" I shouted, an alarm sudenly popping up. He stopped suddenly, growing tense with curiosity.

"Why? What…what's wrong?" He asked. I swallowed, my face grew red. Well, redder.

"I'm…uh, I'm not decent."

There was a pause. After a moment, he replied.

"Why the bloody hell are you sitting behind a bush naked? Where the hell are your clothes?" I laughed nervously.

"Um, well, I didn't have a towel, and I didn't want to get them wet…" he slapped his forehead.

"Oh, God, I don't believe this…" he mumbled. "What the fuck did you take a bath for if you didn't have something to dry yourself off with?" he snapped with a harsh voice. I tensed.

"You shouldn't cuss in front of a lady, you now." I said, narrowed eyes.

"All right, I'll keep that in mind in case I happen to see one." he paused; I fumed. It was quiet for a moment. I wet my lower lip and bit it. The silence was awkward enough, not being clothed didn't help at all.

It remained silent for several moments, then I heard a strange shuffling noise. A second later, everything went black. I yelped and thrashed my arms around stupidly; it took me a moment to realize a large clothe had been tossed onto me. I pulled it off of my eyes and looked down.

It was Kisame's large, black cloak. The one I had never seen him take off, the one with cute little red swirly clouds on the bottom. I looked up, confused. He had walked close enough to look over the bush, staring down nonchalantly at me.

"Cover yourself. Get up." he said. I blushed and did as I was told.

The cloak of course was far too large for me, and looked more like a blanket. It hung limply, trailing on the earth beneath me. He walked over to where my clothes were and grabbed them up; he turned and threw them into my hands.

"Hurry up and dry off and get dressed." he said. My eyes fell to the earth, I blushed in embarrassment.

"Um…okay." I said quietly. He continued to stand there expectantly. "…turn around?" I said.

He rolled his eyes and turned, and crossed his arms. "Just hurry up," he said.

I used his cloak to dry myself off, although I just knew I was getting dirty again. (After all, he had worn that gaudy thing how many days in a row? Geez…) The thought of wearing that same pair of underwear again was less than appealing to me, but as disgusting as putting all my dirty clothes back on, I didn't really have that much of a choice. I was just thankful I hadn't started my _you-know-what_ yet. I had enough problems already.

I finished getting dressed and turned to face his back. I was kinda grateful, for some unknown reason. Don't ask me why, it wasn't motivated by anything, it was just a peculiar emotion that popped up out of nowhere. I told him I was done, and he made me follow him back to camp.

Now, I couldn't be sure, but I could have _sworn_ I saw the edge of his cheeks grow a light pink…

…but I was probably just imagining it.

---

It grew dark. We were by the fire, eating some sort of small mammal on a stick. I didn't ask what it was (he caught it while I was bathing,) because I was afraid to. Ignorance is bliss, right? Right. I finished mine quickly. Although it looked disgusting, I was more hungry than I was repulsed.

It was starry, the air was warm. If I weren't in a hostage situation, it would have felt like a camping trip. Just like the kind my papa used to take me on.

My papa is probably the greatest man I have ever known. He used to be a great shinobi, until twelve years ago when our village was attacked by the _Kyuubi_. He injured his arm so bad to where he can barely use it. My mother and I take care of him now, but he refuses to remain dependant on anyone. That is one thing I admire about him most; he refuses to give up. Makes me wonder why I turned out the way I did.

Oh, and yes, I still live with my parents. Don't laugh at me. It's mostly because of my father, though. Well, that and I can't seem to keep up payments on any apartment I try to move into. I'm not very good with money managing, you see. Shoes, for example, seem to be a very big weakness for me. Which is really sad, because I own at least sixty pairs of shoes (most of which I paid for by mooching off of my friends,) but due to my less-than-glamorous job, I'm required to only wear one. These boring, ugly, sandal things. What was the point of them, anyway? I can't tell you how many times I've stubbed my toe wearing these things...

I remember, for my twenty-second birthday, Iruka offered to buy me a pair of these really cute heels with ribbons. Okay, well, he didn't technically _offer_, I kind of had to beg him for awhile, but he _did _happen to agree to buy them for me on my birthday. Yup, a gift from a boy. I got one in my life, and that was only because I had to whine at him.

Hey, which reminds me, when I get back to Konoha, I have my date to look foreword to.

I stopped.

Well...that is _if _I ever get back. Alive. I'm pretty sure Iruka isn't into necrophilia…

Cue daydreamy thoughts, Sadako.

Perhaps Iruka, once realizing I was missing, left Konoha in search of me? Yeah, that'd be cool. And them, he'd find me tied to some railroad tracks. Kisame would stroke his long handlebar moustache, and Iruka would ride in on a noble steed and thwart the big blue baddie. Them, he pick me up bride-style and we'd ride off into the sunset. And then we'd live happily ever after, or some baloney.

I looked up. Kisame was staring intently at the fire, not saying a word. My mind trailed again.

Had his cheeks _really _turned _pink_…?

In spite of myself, I smiled.

_-to be continued in the next installment-_


	9. Rain

**Comments:** Sorry this chapter was late. I actually had it complete awhile ago, it's just FF(dot)net was having some wierd problems uploading my story. If any of you guys care to see a picture of Sadako, there's a picture of her in my gallery at doubleyou-doubleyou-doubleyou dot roundarosie dot deviantart dot com. Thanks for all of your reviews!

* * *

We walked quite awhile, all day the sky had begun to slowly fade into a dark gray. The air had become humid and sticky. The weather had been very unusual the past few days, so I wasn't really surprised that it was about to rain. Kisame made me walk beside him because instead of behind; it was growing darker than usual.

It was still early in the day when I felt the small patter of liquid land on my head and trickle down the side of my cheek. I looked up, only to be rewarded with a kamikaze dragonfly pelting me in the face. I yelped and jumped backwards.

"AH! EW! GROSS! Stupid _BUG_!"

I clawed at my face. I wasn't aware the dragonfly had stumbled awkwardly off of my face and had begun to fly away, so I just continued to rub at my eyes. Kisame stopped and turned to see what my problem was.

"Stop dawdling. It's going to rain soon, so we should hurry."

Rubbing my eyes and peering at the tall man, I flatly replied,

"Hurry to what? You haven't told me where the heck you're taking me," I reminded him for the umpteenth million time.

His face remained constant. He just stood and stared at me for several moments; the silence was broken when another raindrop fell and bombarded him on the top of the head. He looked up, and the rain began falling. Reaching forward, he grabbed me by the wrist and began walking unnecessarily fast. I struggled to keep up, but with the scroll weighing me down and my stubby legs not running fast enough, I kept tripping over my feet. I managed to ask him where we were going, he replied impassively,

"Town nearby,"

And that was all he said.

---

Indeed, there was a town nearby. It was incredibly small, I had never heard of it in my life. (It had some really long name I'm afraid I couldn't pronounce, so I just gave up after the fourth try.) It had began raining like cats and dogs by the time we got to the closest Inn, so I was soaking wet. Yay, I got another bath.

We checked in at around four o'clock. It was extremely early, but Kisame said something about there not being any more towns to stop in and he had to get some things. I didn't mind…as long as he didn't attach me to the damn heating system again.

I made a mental note to take a shower tonight _and _in the morning as the elderly receptionist glared in disapproval at the sight of us dripping water everywhere. I muttered an insincere apology as I passed him. Yeah, sure, I should feel bad about getting the floor wet, but that didn't give them any right to shoot nasty looks at me.

We got in our room, and, oh, bliss! _Two beds! _However, the room was still small, but there was a television. This was wonderful, because is Kisame had been making any plans on leaving me stranded here for another several hours, at least I had something to watch. Er, I mean, after I find a way to escape, that is. Eh heh.

However, he only left the room once, and only for a few minutes. I don't know what he left for, but it probably wasn't that important. He was most likely just getting something from the vending machine down the hallway, or asking about when the weather was going to let up.

It was strange... I was grateful he had decided to stop walking when it rained, but I wouldn't really think rain would bother him much. Oh well.

I was sitting on my bed, the one closest to the window, taking my shoes off. He sat, his legs over the side, feet planted on the ground, on his bed. I slipped my vest off and eyed the water dripping off of it. My navy shirt wasn't in very good condition, either.

"I'm gonna' take a shower," I said, standing up. "and I'm gonna' wash my clothes there, too. So I'll be a little while."

He grunted a response and eyed me as I walked past him and towards the bathroom. He mumbled a "no funny business," as I passed. I just rolled my eyes and stepped into the tiled room.

After locking the door (although I knew it was pointless, the lock was so simplistic and ineffective an academy student could pick it) I stood in the center of the bathroom and stripped down. I hung my clothes of the shower curtain pole while I thought about how I was to go about doing this. Perhaps I would just wash my clothes the same time I was in the shower, then I would use the blow-dryer to dry my undies. I could just lounge around in one of the robes the hotel has provided while the rest dry. (I'm afraid if I were to try blow-drying the rest, they would shrink.)

I decided this was the best way to go about the task, so I got to it. The water was warm, and goodness, it was pure bliss.

After I washed my things, I dried my undergarments off and swathed myself in the warm, fuzzy, milky robe. I blow-dried my hair quickly; not enough to straighten it, but not quite enough so I would wake up with unusual tuffs and cowlicks here and there. I'll be honest, my hair is stringy, messy, and it sucks. It takes a lot of management to make it presentable, but considering the only company I was entertaining was Kisame, I didn't really care much. (Although I put into consideration it was an easy target for him to make fun of me, yet I found myself not caring.)

When I left the bathroom, Kisame was just sitting as he had when I first entered the bathroom. Whoo, life of the party, isn't he?

I strutted over to my bed and sat. It was unusually quiet, so I plucked the controller off of the nightstand and turned the television on before he could protest. However, I had the darndest time finding _anything _to watch. I, peculiarly, found myself glancing over at the silent felonious figure that was sitting, solemnly, on the other bed. His gaze was straight. Not quite watching the TV, but not quite looking away. Perhaps he was thinking about something important…

I shook my head and changed the channel. The remote was acting difficult, and I assumed the batteries were running low because I had to press unusually hard to get the darned thing to channel change.

Sports. _Blah_.

Home and Gardening. _Pfft, like I had the time to take care of some stupid plants._

Animal Channel. _The only animal that ever liked me was my older brother's pet tarantula. I stepped on it._

Sports again. _Boring._

Talk Show.

Game Show.

Reality Show.

Static.

Cooking Channel.

Eh…?

The remote stopped working when I came to channel 46.

Oh, dear.

My face turned beat red. The alluring moaning noises coming from the television caused Kisame to snap back into reality-land and shoot a frantic look at me. I had dropped the remote and used my hands to shield my virgin eyes.

"What the fuck?" Kisame snapped. "Change the channel--"

"I didn't mean to!" I shouted as I blindly leapt to the television and fumbled with the buttons. "The remote isn't working!" After a moment, I came to the power button and the television shut off. I sat on the floor, blushing like mad. He sighed and rolled his eyes.

"No more TV." he said.

"O…Okay." I stuttered. What the hell? I thought you had to pay _extra _for that….that sort of thing.

Slowly, red from embarrassment, I got up and sat back down on the bed. Great, now I didn't have anything to do. Damn perverted television. I sighed. My gaze drifted to the man sitting on the bed beside me.

What the…?

A sly grin formed on my lips.

"You're blushing," I said devilishly.

"No, I'm not." Kisame, the all-powerful shark creature brooded. He was indeed, turning a quite remarkable shade of crimson. Red on blue.

Playfully, I lent foreword and nudged him on the shoulder. This opportunity was too rich to let pass. After all, seeing him blush was a rare, yet delicious occasion.

"What's wrong, Kisa? Never seen a buh-gine-uh?" I snickered.

"Shut up, you're annoying me." he snapped back.

"Kisa saw bewbies! Kisa like beeewbies!" I chimed. I didn't realize how ridiculously childish I was being at the time, but I was having so much fun I didn't care.

"Shut _up_."

"Why?" I asked. "Never done that sort of thing before, Kisa?" I teased.

"If you don't shut up, I'll _show _you." He yelled quickly. However, a moment later, the room fell silent, an he made a face of that which suggested he wish he could grab his words and force them back down his throat. I blinked; grew red.

"Eh…w…what was that?" I asked quietly. He scowled and quickly averted his gaze. He turned away from me and lied down on the bed.

"Nothing. Go to sleep."

Surprisingly enough, sleep didn't come easily.

_-to be continued in the next installment-_


	10. Fever

**Comments:** Sorry it's late, I...don't have an excuse, though. Procrastination? Yeah, let's go with that.

* * *

I didn't sleep a wink that night. The next morning, I got out of bed before he did (amazingly) and pulled the curtain aside. It was still raining…only, so much worse. The sky was almost black, so I assumed it was still night, but when I glanced at the clock, it was almost seven am. Even stranger, he should be up by now.

I shrugged it off and crawled like a zombie towards the complementary coffee pot that sat invitingly on the table by the window. I fumbled with the darned thing for the longest time. My hand-eye-coordination was really bad in the morning, because I was one of those people who were groggy and unpleasant without there fix of coffee. Amazing how I'd managed this far without it. (Although I'm fairly sure if you were to ask Kisame, he would agree that I had indeed been grumpy and unfavorable every morning since we first started traveling together. His own fault, really.)

Coffee was one of the very few things on this earth that I could cook. Well, if you could even consider it cooking. I know, sad, really. I can't cook for crap. Everything I make turns out looking decent enough, edible even. However, the taste is a whole other matter…

I could make sandwiches okay, as long as they weren't grilled or toasted. Lemonade was pretty easy, too. I think I once even managed to make a decent looking spread of beanie-weenies, but other than that, I really suck at cooking. Well…okay, there is _one _thing I'm actually…really _good _at making, but it's really embarrassing. I'm really good at making chocolate.

Yeah, you're probably thinking, "what's so bad about that?" Well, it's not the chocolate that's embarrassing, it's the reason why I'm good at making it.

You see, when I was younger, every year on March 14th, White Day, all my female classmates would get swathed in gifts and jewelry and fancy chocolates and such. Every single one of them. And what did I get, you asked?

Big surprise, nothing. Guys just didn't like me. Some didn't even know I was a girl. I remember, one year when I was nine or ten, a guy asked me if I was going to give any girls chocolate this year. Boy was _that _awkward.

Anyway, I took to hating being left out. It was frightfully embarrassing being the only female without any gifts, so I used my ninja intuition and got to thinking of a plan. I couldn't invent a boyfriend…but I _could _make chocolate.

And so, every year, I would make the fanciest, most fabulous chocolate cake anyone had ever seen, and have it delivered to me in the middle of class. I faked surprised, and _badabing badaboom_, everyone thought highly of Sadako.

Except for me, that is…

The coffee machine beeped. I went over and poured myself a cup before sitting back down at the table by the window. Here I go, off on a pity party again. Sighing, my eyes trailed to my distorted reflection in the coffee mug. I heard rain. My eyes seemed a little baggier than I remembered. A rather sad picture was painted, a lonely girl sitting at a table during the rainy morning.

Truth be told, I was afraid. My whole life so far had seemed rather pathetic. I had always hoped that one day I wouldn't be an ugly duckling anymore. That maybe, perhaps, I could actually find a great guy, fall in love, get married…completely swept off my feet. You know, a total babe prince coming in on a white steed to carry me off into Never-Never land where I would spend the rest of my days in my crystal palace. That isn't much to ask, is it?

Okay, okay, but seriously I would have liked to get married at one point in my life. Have some spawn. Little Sadas, you know? Well, it didn't look too promising in my current predicament. I don't think I'm going to live to be 24 now…

Kisame stirred.

He was still sleeping, so I got up and crouched by his bed. He was breathing still, but he sure as heck wasn't getting up. I poked him a couple times, he still didn't move. I pried his eyelids open, only to see a flash of white before they shut back closed. I pushed at his shoulders.

"Kisame…seriously…get up."

He didn't move. My face fell in frustration. I poked his forehead, before darting my hand back.

Oh, my…he was a little warm. Maybe…maybe he's sick?

I stood up and looked around for any clue on what to do. Well, he wasn't waking up, so he probably caught something when we were running around in the rain yesterday. But, still…I don't think he would be bed struck from just a cold. Either way, it was obvious if I didn't do something, we were going to be stuck here all day.

Sighing, I got up and got dressed. I grabbed the room-key and slipped my sandals on before stepping outside of the hotel room as I slung the godforsaken scroll over my shoulder. I fingered my pocket change, counting it silently. I had a couple dollars, so I think I could get something at a drug store, or something. The counter guy gave me directions, but unfortunately I didn't have an umbrella so I was stuck walking in the rain.

Luckily the store was close, so I got there relatively fast. I bought some cold medicine and some candy cigarettes, which rendered me completely broke. I grasped the shopping bag with both arms, pressed against my chest, and started out.

As I ran along the rainy sidewalk, I came to a sudden stop. I looked around frantically in the dark. Rain came down.

Oh, dear…where was I?

I turned and ran a different direction, it seemed a tad familiar…

…It wasn't. Crap.

I kept walking, lost and wet. It was too dark and murky to see well, and from the sound of the sky, I guessed there may be a big storm coming soon. After a good twenty minutes of running around in the rain like an idiot, I began to panic. Quickly, I darted under a nearby shop roofing to stay out of the rain. Perhaps if I waited a moment, the rain would eventually let up and I could figure where the hell the hotel was.

It didn't. I sighed, and popped one of the candy cigarettes in my mouth. It melted quickly as I got to thinking.

…what the hell am I doing here?

Um, getting some cold pills for Kisame.

Um, why?

Because….uh…well, I don't know.

You do realize this would be a perfectly good time to just….leave, you know. He's at the hotel. Make a run for it!

But…he's sick.

So what? What's that jerk ever done for you? He tried to _kill _you!

Well, I know, but…

…But _what_?

Sadako, you know what the right thing to do is. Drop the medicine off _first_.

Woah, who the hell are you?

I'm you're good conscience. We haven't spoken for awhile. It seems things have gone to hell in a hand basket in my absence.

Oh, great. Now I'm feeling bad for a criminal.

Okay, Sadako, you really need to stop talking to yourself.

Fine.

Fine.

Fine!

Sighing, I looked around several times before darting back into the rain and running through the streets. It wouldn't have been as bad if I didn't have the scroll weighing me down, but at least it was waterproof. I was running for quite awhile when I found the hotel.

Quietly, I slipped in and avoided the menacing glares I was receiving from the man at the counter as I dripped on the floor. I made my way to the room, silent as I could be, and shut the door behind me. I saw my blue roommate sitting up, putting his sandals on frantically. He turned quickly, causing me to jump, when he heard me enter. He jumped up.

"Where the _fuck _did you _go_?" he snapped. My face grew red, my knees a little shaking. I could tell that he was mad. For some reason, that made _me _upset.

"I, uh…" I stuttered. He eyed me sharply. "I just thought you would want…some…um, I mean…"

He exhaled and rubbed his forehead in vexation. I didn't really know how to speak at the moment, so I gingerly just held the box of cold medicine out to him and avoided his eyes.

He stared at it a few minutes before snatching it out of my hand.

"…what the hell is this?" he said more than asked. I cleared my throat.

"You had a fever," I said, sounding stupid.

Surprisingly, his face softened.

"…god, you're so stupid," he mumbled.

Oddly enough, I didn't want to protest or insult him back. For some reason, he didn't look convinced, and for some, even stranger, reason, I added,

"…I won't run off," in a soft voice.

He turned and looked thoughtful. After a moment, he replied,

"Yeah, you better not. Or I'll chop off your legs,"

I just assumed that was his way of saying "thank you".

_-to be continued in the next installment-_


	11. End of the Road

**Comments:** Haha! They reach their destination in this chappie. Now, the plot can really start taking off. I have big things planned for this...wish me luck! And not just me, poor Sadako, too. She has big problems coming in the future...

* * *

We didn't leave that day because of the horrendous rain. So he and I were shut up in that little hotel room all day, with no way of entertaining myself. He wouldn't let me watch T.V., so I had nothing to do than lie on my back and try to make out shape in the cracks of the roof. He left momentarily to check with the front desk about the weather and such, and occasionally to fetch something from the vending machine down the hallway. (I had to beg him to get me something, because I get hungry naturally, but my hunger tends to get magnified when I'm bored.)

Most of the time, he just sort of sat there, in front of the window, looking out at the rain. It was kind of creepy, but I was more worried about him not lying down on account of him having a fever. He took the medicine, yeah, but he refused to shut his eyes in my company. Because apparently he didn't believe me when I said I wouldn't run off. But, then again, who could blame him? I'm not exactly the most honest person in the world, and, well, in _my _situation…

Towards the afternoon, the storm got really bad. Pitch black outside, thunder, lighting, the whole shebang. I'll admit, I stayed away from the window (…I'm a little scared of lighting). What I was mostly worried about was the fact that with all this rain, for sure all of the tracks I had been so careful to leave behind our travels would for surely be washed away. As in, they probably would have no idea where to look for me. If…_if _they were looking for me, that is.

Well, believe it or not, we stayed the whole day in that little room, and didn't drive each other crazy. I was too interested in watching the rain fall down the window and the ceiling cracks to bother with him. However, hours passed, and sooner or later it became night again. He took another cold pill silently and lied on the top of the bed. I sat on mine in silence. I wanted to say something, anything, to break the day-long quietness, but for some…_incredibly odd_ reason, I was feeling a tad…sheepish.

I lied down instead and began contemplating about my imaginary rescue team and what they were going to do when they found me. Probably scold me for being stupid enough to become a hostage, and then take Kisame and…

…and…I don't know.

Chop off his head?

Hang him?

My face turned blue. Oh, dear. I couldn't place why, but that idea did not seem as appealing to me as it used to have. What _would _they do to Kisame?

But as I got to thinking, I realized how inhumane it would be to hang someone. They would probably give him a fair trial, or something. Prison. Nothing violent and senseless would become of him. They wouldn't to something so unjustly cruel. Even to a criminal.

Not in this day and age, anyway.

---

I awoke early in the morning, a cold sweat on my back from an unusual dream (One of which involved flying onigiri and everyone in konoha wearing snail costumes. No, I don't get it, either,). Sitting up, I eyed the room. I decided to blame it on not eating well. Shrugging it off, I slid out of bed and looked out the window. It was a little strange, but I was actually hoping that the rain had stopped, because I really _wanted _to get out of this godforsaken hotel room.

Well, luck was on my side for once. It was still raining, but just barely. Only sporadic drops fell gently and landed in the damp soil. It was humid, so I knew my hair was going to poof up like crazy, but for once I didn't really care. I turned, and spoke, sounding like an excited little kid.

"Kisame! No more rain today!"

He, somehow, had gotten up and dressed in the last twelve seconds that I had been using to admire the weather. He slung his giant manpon over his shoulder and turned to the door.

"Hurry up," he said. "We need to make up for lost time. Deidara is probably waiting for us already." I cocked my head.

"Dei…dara?" He tensed up like he said something he should not have. He shook his head.

"Just get dressed already…"

I complied quickly. He was turned with his back to me while I got dressed. I was a little disappointed I wouldn't have time to take a shower before we leave, but I didn't really care too much to protest. I finished, and grabbed the scroll before following him out of the door.

While we walked, down the dirt path out of the town, I tried to start speaking to him again. He didn't feel much like talking, as usual, but he did grant me the liberty of knowing that by the end of the day, we would probably reach our final destination. I was relieved at first, but terrified to think of what would happen once we arrived at…wherever we were going.

It was wet, and sprinkling a little bit. The air wasn't as humid as I thought it would be, but my hair decided to frizz up anyway. Good thing I was too worried about what was to become of me to care much. In fact, It was as if reality hit me like a large brick in the fact at that moment. I had been so occupied with other things (like counting the cracks in the ceiling of the hotel room,) I had neglected to come up with that escape plan I keep promising myself I would formulate.

I swallowed. Perhaps if I got Kisame talking to me, I could get him comfortable enough so as I could make a run for it? No, that wouldn't work. For a shark, he's amazingly fast on land. Maybe I could seduce him with my feminine charms? Pfffttt…okay, seriously, I need to stop joking around. I cleared my throat.

"Eh, Kisame?" I ventured hesitantly.

"Hm," he grunted.

"When we get to where we're going…" I said, trailing off slightly. He waited for me to go on. I bit my lower lip and thought a moment before continuing. "Are…are you going to kill me?"

Well, I put it a little more bluntly than I had thought it would sound. He sort of just, tensed really slightly and hesitated. It was silent for several moments. It was eerie, that silence. Sort of tantalizing, and very awkward. It seemed like forever before he looked as if he was still conscious on account of him not moving. And, just when I thought he was about to reply, there was a small pressure of something pelting me in the head.

I looked up, and it started raining heavily again within seconds. I didn't move, though, and when I looked down again I could see he wasn't either. He started walking again, in the same pace as if the rain hadn't started at all. I was quiet, but followed him. I was getting incredibly wet, but I didn't really care.

In a way, his silence was all the response I needed.

---

The rain turned on and off randomly through the walk, but around noon it seemed to cease. We didn't speak much for the rest of the trip. The scenery had slowly become more barren, and all the trees were dead. The air was cold and wet, and the gray sky reflected gloomily against the rain puddles lying on the dirt path.

We eventually came to a large wall made of dark, clayish ,stone. He stopped suddenly, and I jumped a little before halting. I really wanted to ask him what was up, but I had a horrible feeling in my gut that I should keep quiet. Something felt odd. I…I couldn't be sure, but…

We aren't the only two here?

Well, I was right.

In a flash of black, white, and yellow, a stranger descended from an unknown crevice of the rock wall. I was surprised, but did my best to hide it.

A large, white bird had perched itself on the wet earth. A man, clothed similarly to Kisame, stood atop it. At first I thought it was a woman, he had long blonde hair and a set of rich blue eyes, but when he spoke his gender was confirmed. I grew extremely uneasy and fearful of what happened next. This was in doubt of my mind, our final destination.

The man eyed Kisame, before glancing at me. His gaze made my back straighten and my palms sweat. He looked very unhappy to see me.

"Kisame," he said. "Who is this, un?"

Quietly, I tried to stop my knees from shaking so bad.

Say your prayers, little Sadako. It was nice knowing you.

_-to be continued in the next installment-_


	12. Kisses & Abandonment

**Comments:** I have a lot of art commissions coming very soon, so I'm going to try to update as often as possible before I get to busy. Thank you guys for all the reviews, espcially the ones that tell me what they like and don't like about my story. I really appriciate knowing what it is that you like, so I can improve. I'm kind of sad, I had to rewrite a bunch of the arts I wasn't happy with, and there were a few thigns I had to omit. (A scene where Kisame rescued Sadako from a brigand, a dream scene, et cetera. I admitted these because I just did not feel they set the mood or fit well in with the rest of the story. Oh well, maybe some other time...) This chapter is a little longer than the others...hee hee, things heat up a little. ♥

* * *

I swallowed hard and stood up straight. The blonde man continued to look me over questioningly. Just when I thought he was about to kill me from his constant glaring, Kisame spoke up.

"The nin sent to guard the scroll," he said. The blonde man rose and eyebrow.

"Just one, un?" he asked. If I wasn't so afraid at the moment, I would have laughed. The man spoke well, but I just noticed he seems to have made a habit of grunting after his sentences.

Kisame nodded, but did not face me.

"She has a chakra string from her to the scroll," he went on. "Apparently, if she dies, the scroll also self destructs. I was hoping, you would know how to deal with it, Deidara."

Ooh…so Blondie here is Deidara. Well, he was obviously much cuter than Kisame was, but was he just as much as a threat? Perhaps he would be easier to escape from than Kisame…he did look rather feminine, after all.

The man called Deidara jumped gracefully off of the bird…_thing_, and landed on the soft earth. He took a few steps towards my direction and came to a stop when he was right in front of me. I swallowed and tried to stop my shaking. I began praying silently that this guy wouldn't be smart enough to call my bluff…

After a moment, he reached forward. I flinched, but he only put his hand across my shoulder and onto the back of the scroll. I opened my eyes hesitantly, and it looked as if he were concentrating on something.

Bad time to bring this up, but it's hard not to think of these things when a really hot stranger has his arm around you. Well, sort of around me. And so what if he's a criminal? Uh, I mean…well, this is kind of sad, but this is probably the closest I've ever been to a guy's face. I shook my head. What the hell am I thinking? Hm? Oh, his eye…what's up with that? Damn, his hair is so pretty…not frizzy at all, even. Wonder what he washes his hair with…

After a moment, his fist closed suddenly, and there was a echoing _snap! _It took me a few moments to realize what was happening, but he slid the scroll easily off my shoulder and turned. Scroll in hand, he jumped back onto the large bird and turned to face Kisame again.

"Simple chakra string, un. Easy to break." he threw the scroll down, and the unusual bird caught it in it's tail. It's paper like feathers curved tightly around the scroll's smooth surface.

Kisame grunted. The blonde continued speaking.

"I'll go ahead and commence. Itachi-san has already delivered the _other_ scroll to the Mizukage, un." He glanced my way one last time, before turning back to Kisame. "Take care of her, un. We can't have anyone running off and warning anyone."

With that, the blonde turned and the bird took off.

We were alone.

And I just stood there.

And Kisame just stood there.

And we were both just…standing there. We stood there in silence, for several minutes, before he turned to face me. I couldn't read his expression. My back stiffened. My palms sweated. My throat grew dry.

I did not have the protection of my bluff anymore.

I was alone here, with this deadly criminal who probably hated me. Probably would love nothing more than to gut my and…well, _chop_ _off my legs._

I was defenseless, in unknown territory.

He was faster than me. He was stronger than me. There was no way I could get away.

Kisame took a step towards me. And another. And another. I didn't move, there really was no point. Hopefully he would make this quick. Painless and quick. And leave my body here. And it'll get pecked on by vultures. And in a couple years they're find my remains lying here, and be like, "Oh the poor little kunoichi, she never stood a chance!" and they're put my face in the paper, and maybe even some mouse pads or T-shirts, and oh, wow, that'd be pretty cool. But I wouldn't get any money because, well, I'd be dead. …what was I talking about again?

I opened my eyes, and Kisame was still walking towards me. Step. Step Step. It was painfully slow, at least to me. He kept walking, in front of me, next to me, behind me…

…wait, behind me?

I turned. Kisame was still walking away, as if he hadn't even noticed me standing there.

I cocked my head. Did…did he forget I was here? Had he forgotten? Was he playing some stupid joke? I cleared my throat.

"Eh, uh…Kisame?" I asked.

"Go away," he said, still walking off. "You're not my responsibility anymore."

Okay, now I was really confused. I started walking after him. He glanced over his shoulder, and when he noticed I had begun to follow him, he tensed and walked faster.

"Don't follow me!" he snapped. I didn't listen.

"Hey, you're just gonna leave me here?" I snapped back. He didn't respond, so I walked faster. "Get back here! You're doing it wrong!"

He ignored me and walked even faster. So, _I_ walked even faster. He started jogging. I jogged faster. He began to run. I ran faster. He sprinted, I dashed as fast as my little legs would allow after him.

"LEAVE ME ALONE, YOU _WEIRDO_!" he shouted. I fumed.

"STOP. RUNNING. GET. BACK. HERE." I shouted in between exhausted breaths.

"I'M LETTING YOU GO, SO _GO_!" he shouted back. Gritting my teeth, I struggled to keep up with him.

"YOU. DON'T. UNDERSTAND. COME…_BACK_!"I screamed at the top of my lungs.

Well, he halted. I couldn't stop no where near as fast on him, and in my struggle to quit running suddenly, I collided into his back. He didn't budge, but I fell back and landed on my butt. I grunted and rubbed my lower half, looking up at the stone man. He wasn't moving. I huffed in annoyance.

"You didn't have to stop like _that_," I scowled. He heaved a sigh and slowly turned his head a little so he could glance at me over his shoulder. He was frowning.

"What do you _want_?" he asked sharply. I stood up and dusted myself off.

Well, he was staring at me, and I was staring at him. And it was this moment…I realized, well, I didn't _know _what I wanted. He didn't owe me anything. He had let me go free. He spared my life. I could go home.

But…

…something did not feel right about this situation.

And he just stared at me with those two large, silvery eyes for the longest time. Unblinking, unmoving, his gaze set straight. Sharp and piercing, sending a shiver through my spine. I didn't know what to do or say; suddenly, I couldn't move. My throat dried up and my lower lip quivered. His gaze seemed to stab right through me, and I was completely petrified. I couldn't read him at all.

He moved finally, but only slightly, turning around to face me completly. I didn't back away, I was too afraid. He leant inward and brought his face within inches of my own. The hairs stood up on the back of my neck as I felt his breath brush against my face. My lower lip quivered, my mouth parted slightly to speak. No words came.

"Why can't you...just...leave me...alone...?" His voice was barely audible, as if he were just mumbling to himself.

He didn't falter. My breathing quickened…yet, seemed to stop at the same time. Everything around me seemed to fade away, I couldn't break free from his holding gaze. His eyes narrowed slightly in thought; he bit his lower lip. Still, I didn't move. He edged forward.

I was twenty-three years old when I lost my first kiss.

His lips were surprisingly soft. I can't say I entirely didn't expect what he was going to do, but I would be lying if I didn't say it didn't send a plethora of questions through my mind. My face heated; as did his. My brown eyes widened momentarily in shock before slowly closing. My mind was protesting, reluctant, but I couldn't help but return the kiss.

Several drops of rain landed on my head, trailing down my hair. I made no motion to rid of them. The rain descended, each drop falling slowly and landing on the wet earth around us with a quiet _plop_. It traced down my forehead, cheeks, neck...I paid no mind. Everything was a cloud of haziness and I couldn't seem to think straight.

It seemed to last for ages.

When he pulled away, slowly, I found myself leaning inward as if my mouth wasn't quite ready for his departure. I straightened, face heated, and slowly opened my eyes. When I saw Kisame standing there, my eyes shot open in in realization of what had just happened. My hand shot to my mouth, my cheeks burned.

_Oh, my God…_

Kisame had a bewildered look upon his face, as if he didn't quite believe what he had just done. His teeth gritted, he frantically look away from my gaze.

"..._shit_," he cursed under his breath.

I could only stare in bafflement. He looked back up, with one final stare at me. I didn't move, but I wanted to. I wanted to open my mouth and speak, but no words were forming in my head. I wanted to take a step towards him, touch him, anything, but my legs were locked.

His expression was difficult to read. His eyes narrowed, his teeth were grit. A mixture of regret and...something else? He shook his head and glared at me, anger in his aura.

With one swift motion he struck. His palm landed flat on my chest, sending me backwards with a _thunk _and a _crack_. I lied there, gaping for the breath that had been knocked out of me.

Promptly, he lifted his right hand to his chest, two fingers extended upward. It took me a moment to realize what he was doing, but by the time I realized, a large puff of white smoke appeard. Several moments later, it cleared away completely. He was gone.

I was alone.

A shot of pain ran through my chest; I fell completely on my back. With wheezing breaths and frantic thoughts of fear in confusion, I fainted.

And the rain just fell.

_-to be continued in the next installment-_


	13. Home

**Comments:** Been busy...thank you for all the reviews, I really appriciate reading them. Sometimes, I find myself sitting there and rereading them all over and over again. Kind of silly, but it brings a kind of proud glow to my heart, y'know? Yeah, I'm weird...

* * *

I try to hide my mistakes…

_Sadako, why are you crying?_

I lost the scroll. I was supposed to protect it, and I blew it. There is no way for me to get it back now.

_Oh, dear. Well, that **is**_ _sad._

I'm out in the middle of nowhere. Kisame…he left me here.

_That's even sadder._

They'll never find me here. You're…you're the only one I have left.

_That's the saddest thing of all._

_Because you're talking to yourself._

_---_

A sharp throb in the back of my head caused me to flicker my eyes open. Everything was a blur, there was a bright light ahead of me. I could make out a few vague impressions above, and the faint sound of voices growing louder.

"…found her near Kirigakure…"

"…scroll wasn't in possession…"

"…broken rib, smashed…"

"….look, here. She may…"

"…think she's waking up…"

I blinked several times, the pounding in my head slowly diminishing. After several minutes, the blurry things began to shape more detailed figures. Eventually, I could make out three faces. One of which belonged to Iruka-san. My voice cracked as I opened my mouth to speak.

"Iruka…?" I asked faintly.

He looked at me, and sighed with a relived face. Oh, such a kind-looking face. Perhaps I am dead, and this is an angel? The buzzards are probably picking at my lifeless corpse as we speak, but it no longer matters. Wait…_ow_, what the hell? It's not supposed to hurt to be in heav…

A sharp jolt of pain in my chest caused my to flinch violently and hiss under my breath. The two others grabbed me by my shoulders and tried to steady me.

"Careful, you need to keep still…"

I let out several large breaths before calming down. It took awhile before I came into clear conscience and realized I was lying in a hospital bed. I looked around in confusion.

"Uh…eh? Wh…where am I?" I asked stupidly. Duh. You're in a hospital, moron. I think we just established that.

Iruka's face softened.

"Just relax, Sadako. You're safe, back home in Konoha."

"K…Konoha?!" I gasped. I did not believe it.

"Yes," Iruka continued with a soft smile. "The ANBU search and rescue team found you lying near Kirikagure, about three days ago."

I jumped. _Three days?_

"Three days?" I asked, exasperated. Iruka nodded. I looked down, avoiding his eyes.

Three Days? What…what kind of _idiot_ hits a _girl_ hard enough so as she wouldn't wake up for _three days_? And…_ow_, this really hurts…

Iruka noticed me clutching my side in pain. "You need to relax, Sadako. You have a broken rib."

My face heated in anger, but then for a different reason. My mind suddenly recollected what had happened right before he knocked me out…

Iruka explained about me getting sent on the wrong mission by accident, and how long they had looked for me and where they found me, and stuff like that. I only half listened, partly because I was just grateful to be home and alive, and partly because, well, Iruka is boring as he always was. Anyway, one of the nurses changed my IV (which only hurt a little bit,) and then they both left so Iruka and I could speak alone. It was curious, because he became all smiles all of a sudden.

"Sadako, I was really worried when you didn't come back. But…I have to say, I'm amazed at you. How did you manage to do it? And…how did you get to where you were when we found you?"

I cocked my head.

"How did I manage to do what?" I asked, not just because I was honestly wondering what the heck he was talking about, but because I wanted to avoid the other question.

"Why, delivering the scroll, of course. You must have been attacked over it, yes?"

"Iruka-san…I didn't..." I paused. "...What importance was that scroll, anyway?"

His face softened into a concerned look. He cleared his throat.

"I really don't know much about it, Sadako. Hokage-sama told me it's the Fukamaden. It…has some sort of advanced summoning spells, I think. I recall her saying something about it conjuring up multiple demons at once. …why?"

"Why was it going to be delivered to Kirigakure?" I asked.

"I honestly don't know," he said hesitantly. "but I believe it's because they have more information about sealing summoned demons than we do. I would assume they think it'd be safer."

I grew quiet. My head throbbed in thought. I was about to open my mouth to speak again, but the nurse came back and poked her head in.

"Excuse me, sir," she said, "but visiting hours have ended. I'm going to have to ask you to leave, please. She needs her rest."

Iruka nodded, "Oh, of course," and bid me farewell with a kind smile and a wave. He assured he'd be back to see me tomorrow and made his exit. The nurse giggled and smiled at me.

"Your husband, miss?" she asked. I turned red.

"Oh, uh…no. Just a friend." I laughed nervously. "I'm not married,"

She kept smiling as she wrote something in doctor-chicken-scratch. "If you need anything, feel free to push the call button," she turned and left.

I mumbled a thanks as she left, and sat up. There was a television in the room, but I didn't feel like watching TV. My brain hurt too much for that. Attentively, my hand rose to my face; my fingers brushing my lips. I blushed in remembrance of what had occurred. Why had it happened? Why was it so sudden? Why did he just leave me there? Why…

…why can't the memory of his lips brushing mine leave my head?

I shut my eyes. Something very strange was going on, and I really couldn't explain it. Not one bit. I my chest hurt, and I don't think it was from my broken rib…

Suddenly, a completely different thought entered my mind. Iruka thinks I delivered the scroll to Kirigakure…but, why? _I _didn't deliver the scroll. I didn't even set foot into Kirigaku…

I froze.

_"I'll go ahead and commence. Itachi-san has already delivered the **other**_ _scroll to the Mizukage, un." _

That man…Deidara…had said something about…an _other _scroll. What on earth could he have been talking about? And who was Ita…

Suddenly, as if struck by lighting, I evoked a brief memory of having heard something about a criminal named Itachi that came from the Leaf. Uchida? Uchihada? Something like that. He had been exiled from the village after killing his clan, I think. If I remember correctly, he was now apart of a group of renegades called…the Akatkuse? I don't know. Something like that.

But…why would a organization of criminals deliver a scroll to the Mizukage? Or rather, a _different _scroll. It didn't seem to make much sense to me. But…

What was it Iruka said the scroll could do? Summon…demons? What on earth could they…

_Oh, my God…_

The scroll they delivered…must be a replica. A _fake_. They're trying to lead the villages into a false sense of _security _so they can…

…so they can what?

Well, I don' know. What could they use the scroll for…?

Multiple demons…all at once? That would require all of Konoha's able nin to fight. All of us back then couldn't even handle _one_, so…the village would be completely empty.

…completely _empty_.

_The Hokage Tower would be unprotected._

If no one was here to protect the tower, where all our scrolls and secrets and…everything was held…they could get ahold of Konoha's restricted information. The entire village would be _held ransom_.

Quickly, I jumped up, out of bed. My side hurt horribly, but I _had _to tell the Hokage about this. I had been out for almost three days…so, most likely, they could attack at _any time _now. We were sitting ducks. The village isn't even _expecting_ anything, they think I _delivered_ the scroll. We're all completely _helpless_...

I didn't bother with my shoes. I took off running, down the hallways, down the stairs, through the doors and outside.

I heard a scream.

_-to be continued in the next installment-_


	14. Pang of Conscience

**Comments:** Hm, wow. This...has taken off, hasn't it? This is probably the longest fanfiction I've ever writen. And ironically, when I started it, I didn't even think I'd make it to three chapters. Haha! Thanks for the reviews, I can honestly say they're what keep me going.

* * *

I turned quickly in the direction of the scream. A woman was pointing to way far in the distance, several other gaping in that direction. I couldn't see well over the crowd, but after jumping up several time sand sitting on my toes, I could finally look over them.

In the distance, far off, the outskirts of Konoha, were several large creatures. They were too far away for me to make out details, but large enough I could tell what they were. My throat grew dry. It was just as I had feared. They had all ready _summoned _the blasted things…and in the most convenient time, too.

And then, people started panicking. Everyone ran this and that way, rushing frantically to get into their houses or take cover. I saw several Konoha nin run off in the direction out of the village. I searched frantically for one nearby, I needed to tell someone. And, of course, it took me awhile to actually find anyone who was calm enough to stand _still _for a few minutes to listen to me.

He was tall, very tall, and had jet black hair. His Konoha headband was tied firmly around his shoulder. I ran up to him as fast as I could; he was surrounded by a crowd of panicking pedestrians. It took me awhile to squeeze through the lot.

"…on't panic, we're sending all of our opts to the attacked area. We have everything under control, we need all of you to get inside, and stay th-"

"Excuse me, sir!" I shouted. He turned and looked a few minutes, before looking down and realizing where I was.

"Everyone is being ordered inside, you should-"

"You don't understand! You can't send all the able ninjas out there, it's just what the Akats-" he cut me off.

"Listen, kid, just get inside. You'll be safe there. I assure you the Konoha _ninja _can take care of this."

Say _what_? My face grew red with anger. I was about to protest, but the crowd rushing to get under cover pushed me away. _Kid_? Who the hell did that guy think he is? I'm a ninja, too! Well, a bad one, but a ninja nonetheless. Can't he see my…

That moment, I realized my forehead was bare. My Konoha headband wasn't there. In fact, I was running around in navy shin-length pants and a navy t-shirt about two sizes too big. My normal clothes must be at the hospital, probably why that guy thought I was a kid…

Okay, so well, now it was obvious I wasn't going to get any help from the ninja here. I turned, away from the crowd being evacuated, and dashed towards the Hokage Tower. Perhaps I would get lucky and run into Iruka, or Gai, or someone I _knew_…

Of course, I ran for a good while, and didn't. I was about in the center of the village, and the entire thing was bare. There wasn't a soul on the streets. I heard the screaming of people and crashing and booming of the battle being fought in the distance. And I was here, not being able to do _anything_. Catching my breath, I turned and caught sight of one of the large creatures (one that resembled a scorpion, I think,).

There was a lot of dust, clouds, and yelling. I recognized the smoke as something being similar to that of a summoning jutsu. Sure enough, a moment later, the smoke cleared and there was a giant slug creature standing tall in front of the opposing demon. I didn't know what on earth that could be about, but I just hoped it was on _our _side. I assumed it was, because there was someone standing on top of it. I couldn't make out who, but I didn't have time to read too much into it.

I turned and dashed to the Hokage Tower. There was no one standing outside of it, and as I suspected, the insides were bare as well.

I hesitated at first, but I walked down the main hallway and, after realizing it was indeed completely deserted, dashed up the stairs.

I could hear the blood pumping rabidly behind my ears, my throat went dry. All I could do was pray and hope and wish that they hadn't reached the scroll chambers. All I could do was hope, Hope, and hope, and hope…

I halted when I came to the fourth floor. My face went blue, my expression aghast.

Okay, this was defiantly bad. I don't remember a decapitated man being in the hallway…

My stomach churned a few times in disgust, my eyes watered from the horrid sight. I turned my head away from the dead man and pressed myself up against the wall. I tried my hardest to steady my breath, but it seemed all of a sudden I was overwhelmed in fright. What the hell was I _thinking_? They're a whole group of deadly and lethal criminals. They would think nothing about killing me…

And here _I_ was. The shortest, slowest, weakest…well, just overall general most useless ninja in the entire community. And I was alone here, trying to protect the most important scroll of the village. No one even _asked _for my help, I could just _leave _and no one would think less of me, I mean, no one knew I was _here_…

…But I couldn't do that. The entire village could be destroyed in the blink of an eye. Everyone is out there risking their necks, and I'm in here having second thoughts. I was the village's only hope…even if that hope was slim, minor, and insignificant. I swallowed the lump in my throat. No one _else _could do anything, so it looked as if I didn't have much of a choice.

I blinked back the few watery thoughts gathering in my eyes, and began walking down the hallway. I was extra careful not to look at the decapitated man again, but my eyes tend to wander at the most inconvient times. It didn't matter much, there were a few more disembodied corpses lying flaccidly throughout the otherwise deserted hallways. With each one I passed, the more my courage seemed to wither. However, I somehow managed to go on. I didn't know how, but I did.

And my heart stung in fear at the thought of how if I were to be caught here by my undetected enemies, my heroic efforts would be a waste. And then, as I walked up the stairs ever so quietly, as I tiptoed down the hallways as silent as I could, as I crept past the many aligned symmetrical doors, a thought came to my mind.

Kisame…he was in the building too, wasn't he?

I didn't know where, but I could definitely sense several large chakra sources throughout the building. I had weak chakra sensors, so I couldn't pinpoint their location, but I knew as a fact one of those particularly large chakra powers was easily recognizable as Kisame's.

My knees went weak. I didn't know why. What the hell was I going to do if I ran into him? I know I could probably hide if I heard them coming. My chakra is low and not that hard to overlook…but, still. What _would _I say?

"Hi, I have to stop you from stealing that scroll. Why'd you kiss me, anyway?"

Yeah, that sounded stupid.

"I know you're kinda busy with threatening the existence of my village, but out of curiosity I wanted to know why you kissed me,"

Wow, that sounded stupider.

"Heya Kisa! Haha, so, crazy time we had back in the mist, huh?"

Okay, I need to stop.

But…in all seriousness, what was I going to do? I mean, if I were to run into him…it was possible. Most likely. Would he kill me? Odds are he wouldn't just let me go again, not while he was in front of his colleagues. But, what if--

_Tap_.

Wait, what was that?

I stopped walking for a moment and listened. I was completely still, not daring to move an inch. The noise was coming from a door a few feet ahead of me. A door I recognised as the Hokage's office. As quiet as I could, I swallowed the lump in my throat and edged towards the door, kneeling by the entrance. It was difficult, but I was able to steady my breathing. My heart beat fast in my chest. I heard voices from inside the door.

"…isn't anywhere. We've searched the whole place."

"It has to be in this room, un. That's what Itachi-san said,"

"Somehow, I wouldn't doubt it if he was wrong."

"Maybe we should check downstairs again, un?"

"Let's just make it quick, I don't like to keep people waiting…you've blown this room up enough, anyway."

I heard two sets of footsteps walk towards my direction. They came closer, until they were right in front of the door. I tensed.

Oh, no…there wasn't anywhere to _hide_.

What was I going to do…?

_-to be continued in the next installment-_


	15. Out of the Frying Pan

**Comments: **Dum tee dum, school's almost out for the summer! Yay! Wow, I'm almost done with Part Two of this fic. you see, I have everything planned out in three parts. Part one was the period in which Sadako and Kisame were traveling together, we're currently in the action-y part two. And part three? Oh ho ho ho, you'll just have to wait and see, won't you? ♥

* * *

My heartbeat multiplied. I held my breath as my hands fumbled down to my thigh, only to realize my kunai pouch wasn't there. I grasped then the fact that I had run blindly to the enemy with nothing to defend myself with. My throat went dry, I pressed myself tight against the wall.

The door opened. My heart stopped. It was silent. The open door was blocking them from me, but I could hear them - two men - step out. And then…

They walked on.

I sat there, the door sung shut. I was completely still, sweat formed on the back of my neck. Both of them were completely in sight. I crouched, like stone, next to the door. Their backs faced me as they kept walking in the opposite direction.

One of them was the blonde man I remembered as Deidara. The other , a large lump of a creature, I had never seen before. My teeth were clenched uncomfortably tight together as they kept walking, farther down the hall, and farther away from me. They turned down a hallway, far off, and out of sight.

Silence.

I exhaled.

_Oh, my God_…I had never been so scared in my entire life. How on earth had they not noticed me? For sure they could have sensed even my unusually low chakra from that close? But…perhaps it was just their minds were on other things? Or perhaps God was feeling like being nice to me for once?

Whatever the reason was, I stood as quick as I could and dashed into the Hokage's Office. My knees were still shaking, my throat cracking. I did my best to ignore my discomforts as I searched across the room, which had been completely turned-over.

The desk was broken, papers and scrolls scattered haphazardly across the stained wooden floor. There were large black, charcoal-looking stains in random places and cabinets. Those of which looked as if they came from a bomb of some sort. I saw bits and pieces of clay scattered. Pieces of wood and walls were slashed and dented, as if done by a large metal weapon.

I stepped towards the desk. My breathing was loud and unstable. Using much of my strength, I pushed the heavy desk over on it's side. If I had learned anything in the academy, then it should be around here somewhere…

My eyes caught sight of a tiny white indent on the floorboards. It had been hidden under the desk, and would have been impossible to spot unless you already knew where it was. Fortunately for me, I had dealt with scrolls (and delivering them) for most of my entire life, so I knew a least a little bit about where to store important, top-secret ones. I had never actually needed to put this information to good use until today, however…

A bead of sweat crossed my brow. I placed my hands flat on the board where the white spot was. My palms were sweaty. I focus all my limited chakra to the flat of my hands, praying I would have enough.

"_Kaihou_!" I hissed.

The board grew blue for a moment, then in a small puff of smoke, I saw a crease appear. I exhaled and said a silent thanks as I lifted the board up. And there it was, safe and sound.

The _Konohagakure Chokugaku_.

And boy, was it ever _large_. No matter, I had to be quick. Odds are, when Blondie and Mr. Lumpy realize the scroll isn't anywhere else, they'll come back and search for it. Promptly, I stood and slung the giant thing over my shoulder. I turned to exit.

Then, something caught my eye, a small lump of clay lying near the door. It resembled a tiny bird, but the right wing had been chipped and was bending awkwardly. I bent over to examine it.

I reached for it uneasily and picked it up. Under closer examination, I could tell it was meant as some sort of explosive. Which would definitely explain the condition of the Hokage's office. But why hadn't it gone off? I cocked my head and squinted my eyes. It still had explosive material inside of it.

I decided to mull on it later. I put it in my pocket. It may be harmless now, but perhaps I could figure a way to trigger it in the future if I were to run into trouble on my way out of the building. I was otherwise unarmed, and carrying this unnecessarily oversized scroll to boot.

Without wasting anymore time, I turned and left the Hokage's office. I peeked my head out of the door several times to see if the cost was clear before turning down the way I came. I ran as fast and quietly as I possibly could, but with the large scroll weighing me down, it was almost impossible to move as quick as I would have liked.

I didn't hear anyone nearby, but as much as I would have liked to relax a bit, I knew I couldn't afford it. To be honest, I would have loved nothing more than to drop the damn scroll and make a run for the exit, but for some odd reason I just couldn't do that.

Haha, look at me. Here she is, little Sadako. Shorty. Weakling. Flatsy. Here, playing the big hero. Probably going to end up with her head chopped off or her limbs shredded. Or perhaps they'd boil me and put me into a stew. Sadako Stew. It would probably taste like Onions and Leather. And sweat. And what were they going to say at her funeral, you suppose?

"She was an idiot."

"Poor….uh…poor….um….poor ole'…whats-her-face…"

"You mean Sadako was a _girl_?"

Ouch. Geez, Sadako, stop with the put-downs all ready. This is really a bad time. I mean, come on. You're almost at the stairs. Just a few flights down, and you're home free. And you'll never have to worry about protecting important scrolls or the village or the dumb ole' Akatsuki or Kisame ever again.

I slowed, my head fell.

_Kisame_…

...was I ever going to get to talk to him again?

_Pfft_, not that I wanted to. I mean…why would I want to talk to that stupid giant sardine, anyway? What's he ever done for you, right?

Right?

_Riiight_?

Sadako, are you even listening?

Kisame was in the building. I wouldn't know what to say, but for some odd reason I really wanted to see him again. Closure? Yeah…closure I guess. I mean, I guess you could say we're…friends? Not really. Well, sort of. I guess. I really don't know.

Then what? Acquaintances? Sadako, he kidnapped you. People who are kidnapped don't just become _friends _with their captors. That's stupid. Which I suppose would fit you pretty well, huh?

I bit my lower lip. What on earth was I going on about? I had no idea. Here I was, in the middle escaping a life-or-death situation, and I was pondering on what sort of relationship I shared with a giant shark.

But…

Man, was that pressing in the back of my mind. I shifted the scrolls weight. Come one, Sadako. Get a grip. One more turn, then the stairs, and you're gone. You won't see him anymore. Ever. Be happy about it, he's a burden.

I suddenly felt a most curious heavy feeling in my chest. Sort of a cross between having a hollow gut and being punched in the throat. My face was warm, my eyes were…wet? Huh?

Why…why did that thought bother me so much? I swallowed the lump in my throat. Stupid Kisame…stupid scroll…stupid….ow, eyelash in my eye…

I stopped and rubbed at my eyes frantically. I exhaled.

"Stupid…eyelash…" I muttered. "Stupid scroll…"

"Allow me to take that off your hands, un."

My head shot up.

"I knew it was a good idea to let you find it for me, un." he grinned.

Then, Deidara came at me.

_-to be continued in the next installment-_


	16. Into the Fire

**Comments:** School is almost out...I'm so excited. I forgot to mention, a few chapters ago, I had recived some Sadako fanart. I seriously almost cried I was so happy...geez, I'm such a weirdo. Short Chapter...sorry.

* * *

The next few seconds seemed to happen simultaneously. I didn't have any time to think, or react. He lunged forward, a small blur of tan matter flew directly at me. Instinctively, I tried to move to the side, but I wasn't fast enough. In a fuzzy confusion, the clay bomb struck about a foot away. I was flung back violently, my back crashing into the glass window.

Well, _through _the glass window.

Everything was happening so quick. I flew back and landed on my back against the tiles of the outside roofing. My chest from my previous injury panged with a merciless ache, my right side stung with small burns. I scrambled frantically to grab on to something--anything. The scroll hung flaccidly and banged against my back from it's strap as I groped recklessly and grasped onto the shingles.

They began sliding down, down, down…I clawed hysterically to get a grip on something solid, slowly climbing my way up the shingles and to the edge of the window. The smoke seeping from the remainder of the bomb stung my eyes, but I didn't have any time to waste. Fearing to my life, I scrambled up and jumped onto the roof of a higher level of the building.

I didn't stop there, I jumped another level up. I would have kept going, but I was on the highest level of the building. I stopped and clumsily steadied myself on the solid spine of the roof. Breathing deeply, I sheepishly peeked my head to the side a bit. The smoke was clearing, but the blurry figure that was Deidara stood there, by the busted window. There was someone else with him. They were talking.

Frantically, I shifted the scrolls weight and turned and started running down the roof's base. It kept slipping, and I was getting tired quickly. I came to the edge of the roof. No where else to go but down…

But it was so far off, there was no way I could jump down safely and still hold on to the large scroll. I wet my lips and swallowed. I would have to turn around and look for another way to escape. Steadily, I turned around.

Kisame.

My eyes widened. My throat went dry in shock, I stiffened. He was standing a good fifteen feet away, blocking the only way off of the roof. I bit my lip.

It was just us two.

Well, here he is, Sadako. Go on, say something.

I could barely choke out a sentence.

"Ki…Kisa…"

Great job, moron.

His face was neutral, but stern. He didn't move. He seemed to be avoiding my eyes. I clung to the scroll's strap with all my might; my knuckles turned white. I cleared my throat and managed to speak with a slightly bolder voice.

"Kisame," I said.

Well, at least I finished the word. Unfortunately, I couldn't get anything else out right then. He started talking before I could, anyway.

"What are you doing here?" he asked. Not exactly what I would have preferred him to say, but I couldn't very well be too picky about his choice of dialogue. I cleared my throat again.

"Protecting the scroll you're trying to steal," I stated, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

His face stayed the same. He sort of grunted, and grit his teeth very slightly, but he didn't move. I stayed where I was. Okay, now what? Should I ask him about what happened? I mean, it's not like it isn't already awkward. I opened my mouth to speak, but he turned and started walking in the opposite direction. I head cocked in curiosity.

"Eh? W…where are you going?" I asked. He didn't bother turning when he responded.

"I suggest you get out of here," he said. "The others will find you up here and won't be as lenient as I am."

I stood there, my arms aching, in a befuddled confusion. Quickly, I gathered myself and stood straight.

"Wait!" I yelled. "A…aren't you gonna try to take it from me?" He stopped.

"No," he said.

Uh, hmm, well I see. Care to explain why?

"Why not?" I asked. Kind of ironic, but I sounded as if I _wanted _him to steal it from me. It took him a moment, he thought really long about replying. I decided he wasn't going to respond, so I spoke up again.

"Kisame, turn around." I said, sounding rather assertive. Really, if I wasn't so preoccupied at the moment, I would have given myself a pat on the back.

He only half-complied, just sort of, semi-turning, looking back at me. I couldn't read his face at all, which really did come as a surprise. Our eyes did meet, and I shuddered. They were dead man's eyes.

He obviously was waiting for me to continue. I didn't know what to say. My shoulders felt heavy. So did my chest. Finally, after what seemed like forever, I spoke again.

"Why did you leave me there?"

It was a good question, I think. I was avoiding the other one I wanted to ask (at risk of sounding idiotic,) yet would still get an answer I would like. He was still. The sky, which was light gray, had pools of clouds huddling above from the smoke trailing from the buildings. The air tasted like sweat and charred wood. My heart was pumping like crazy, but my breath was arrested in my nostrils. I waited eagerly for him to show a sign of response. It took forever before I was granted his reply. Slowly, he turned to face me.

"You're racking on my last nerve," he mumbled. I clenched my teeth.

"Stop being such a jerk!" I shouted. My bare foot slid a little, I almost lost my balance. Luckily my knees and the pads of my hands prevented my fall, I quickly composed myself again. His nonchalant and dismissive attitude was really pissing me off. "Stop treating me like I'm a little kid, don't patronize me!"

He grunted. "Then stop acting like one," he replied. My face grew red.

"I'm _not_!" I shouted, stomping my foot. "I'm an adult, _damn it_!" I stood straight and glared at him. "Why are you brushing me off? You don't think I deserve an explanation?"

"Sadako," he said.

I stiffened. Wow, no Shorty? That…I think that was the first time he'd actually addressed me by my name. Whatever, it certainly got my attention. I waited; he hesitated.

"Just…get out of here before you get hurt. Or killed. You have no business being here."

"Oh, and you do?" I scoffed, crossing my arms.

His eyes narrowed. "I don't have to explain myself to you. Just get lost."

"Why should I? I'm doing my job!"

"Not very good at it, are you?"

I fumed. "Shut up, you stupid fish thing! You're the one being immature!" I huffed in anger.

His eyes narrowed in annoyance. I stood firm. I cleared my throat.

"Just…just tell me why…why you did _that_," I didn't really have to explain what the _that _was. Even though I didn't spell it out, it was plain and simple on what I meant. And in this way, it didn't sound idiotic.

He just sort of stiffened slightly and paused. His eyes lowered to the right, and it looked as if he were thinking really hard. I was patient; I bit my lower lip in anticipation as he thought. Tantalizing silence, the sounds of the distant battle nothing but a fuzzy hum blending almost inaudibly in the background.

Finally, he looked up. His eyes met mine. White met brown. He opened his mouth, but it wasn't his voice I heard.

"Kisame, what's taking so long?"

My eyes widened. The cloaked figure had come out of seemingly nowhere, standing erect beside Kisame. It's head turned, and I gazed into the most fearsomely somber face I had ever seen.

Red met brown, and my legs turned to stone.

Suddenly, I remembered the name of the missing Konoha nin I had recalled earlier in the hospital.

_Uchiha Itachi._

_-to be continued in the next installment-_


	17. Bomb

**Comments:** School's almost out, it's exam week! Lots of work to do, oh yes, oh yes...

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My legs felt as if they were made of water. His eyes were horrible, terrifying. I did my best to avoid our gazes crossing. I swallowed and clutched to the scroll as tight as I could, panic gathering in the back of my mind. Kisame seemed surprised also, but no where near as much as I.

"Itachi-san…" he said. The tone in his voice was awkward, I couldn't place it at all.

Itachi shot a look at the taller man.

"Deidara and Sasori have left already, we're waiting for you," he said in monotone.

Kisame said something else, and Itachi answered, and I don't know how long this went on. I couldn't pay attention, I was too afraid to do anything. This kid was younger than me, at least 5 years. He was…a lot faster than me, I hadn't seen him coming. Kisame seemed to see him as a colleague, and from little I knew about his criminal past, this guy was most definitely stronger than me. Hell, this guy was _prettier _than I was.

Well, they did some more of that talking they do, and finally Itachi shot a certain look at fishhead and Kisame turned. He flashed a last glance in my direction before jumping off of the roof and out of sight. I was about to wave, but I realized how stupid it would look halfway through lifting my hand and decided against it.

And Itachi stood there, looking at me with his perplexing ruby eyes. Shiny raven hair flowing in the small breezes of the air. God, this kid must have had a million girlfriends in his lifetime.

I shook my head to clear those ridiculous thoughts out of my head. Come on, Sadako. Stay focused. Foooo…cussssedd. I took a deep breath. He didn't say anything to me, but I knew what it was he wanted.

I bit my lower lip in edginess. What was I going to do? It was obvious he was waiting for me to move first, which is the smarter thing to do, but I had no idea what it was I should do. I swallowed. Sweat trickled down the back of my neck.

Out of the corner of my eye, I began frantically searching for a way of escape. There were a few roofs on lower levels I could probably jump to in time, but what the hell was I going to do once I got down there? Behind me was the long jump, so that wasn't an option. I couldn't get passed him, that was for sure. I suppose I would just have to jump to a lower level and hope I could outrun him. The next level had a ramp-like roof, so perhaps I could make it to the other side and jump to the tower and signal help? Yeah, great idea. How are you going to do that?

I hadn't even blinked, but I saw him move closer, in a flash. I didn't have but a split second to think on what to do, so I dashed as fast as I could to my right and jumped off of the roof. My arms flailing awkwardly, the scroll attached by nothing but the strap. I landed on the pads of my hands and my knees before scrambling up the tiled surface. I heard whooshing, I knew he'd come after me.

I made it to the top. I had mistaken the height of the ramp, and I ended up slightly higher than I was on the last level. I blinked, caught my breath, and noticed Itachi wasn't anywhere in sight. I felt a small sense of relief before I realized there was no way he would have just left me here. I turned, and there he was. Just a few feet away. His face was emotionless, he thought nothing of my efforts. I scrambled to my feet.

Stillness. I gulped and took a step back. He was silent. It was an very eerie, unnatural silence. I dared not look at his eyes, I was afraid I would die of fright. I took a backwards step, then another. Slowly. He didn't tense. He showed no signs of acknowledgment, I had no way of knowing if he knew what I was doing or not…

I swallowed. Why wasn't he doing anything? I didn't have any time to waste, so I dismissed the thought and just put it to blind hope he didn't realize I was about to make another run for the other roof. Quickly, I turned and jumped to a higher level.

He was there, waiting. I turned and ran down the spine of the roof. I almost tripped several times, I wasn't used to running barefoot. Nonetheless, I made it to the next rooftop, and then the next. And I kept running until I realized…

I was out of places to run.

I turned, and there he was. Still, motionless, nonchalant. He was letting me run, because now there wasn't _anywhere _to go. And I was stupid enough to walk right into that.

I would have slapped myself in the face if I wasn't so terrified.

Okay, so…here I was. Alone on the roof, no where to go but _down_, stuck with a criminal whose current goal was to kill me and steal what I was trying to protect. Nervously, I adjusted my footing. He continued to stand there.

"No where else to run," he said simply.

Yeah, okay, thank you Captain Obvious. I kinda just figured that out myself. _Damn_ it! Why the hell had Kisame just up and left me _again _for dead? That asshole! If I get out and live another day, I'd oughta give him a piece of my mind…

But now, that wasn't that likely, was it?

Here I am. The cat led the mouse perfectly into a corner. Nothing here but the darkening sky, smoke, tiled floor, a hundred foot drop, lantern ropes leading to other buildings…

Like a spasm of consciousness, a thought of realization jumped suddenly into my frantic mind.

_Lantern ropes_!

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see that if I ran and jumped for it I could reach one and climb down to safety, without dropping the scroll. The rope led all the way to a large pillar, about eight feet tall, that I could easily jump down from and to the earth. It seemed logical enough, but…

…Well, with Itachi here, it wasn't very likely I'd even _reach _the rope in time, let alone _climb _down it.

I bit my lip for the umpteenth million time, which had begun to make it feel a tad raw. My hand twitched, the man just stared, waiting for me to move. Maybe, I could somehow signal someone? He's the only one up here, maybe a bunch of others could handle him…but how was I going to do that? _He _had comrades, too. Kisame, and Deidara…

…Deidara…

My eyes widened and slowly fell to my pocket inconspicuously.

_The bomb_!

I could use it, perhaps, as a distraction. I could trigger it in front of him, he wouldn't expect it from someone like me, and make a jump for it? The explosion would surely catch a few eyeballs…they would send some people for help, and I would be safe on the earth. It sounded like a damn good plan to me, but…

How was I going to trigger the damn thing? I didn't know anything about bombs. Well, except…there was explodey things inside of it, right? Like, powder? It should be activated by heat, or…fire? Okay, technically that should work, but…how was I going to get a fire started up here? I don't smoke, and I doubt Itachi would have a lighter to lend me…unless…

_Obiki no Justsu_…it was one of the lesser techniques I had learned way back in my academy days. I was horrible at it, so I never bothered to master it. As the name suggests, it was originally used to start small fires for camping and such, but it was later developed for more offensive battle jutsu. I…I think I could remember the hand signs, but…I don't know if I would be able to spark up anything useful…

Itachi had been standing there for awhile, chances are he was going to make a move any second now. Okay, Sadako…it's now or never…

I took a deep breath.

I reached in my pocket casually, Itachi kept staring, obviously piqued at what I was up to. I wet my lip, and with the crooked clay bird in hand, signed…

_Horse…_

_Pig…_

_Monkey…_

_Dragon…_

_Snake…_

Here we go…

I inhaled deeply, and in an equally fluid motion exhaled.

Small fizzle, smoke…

I coughed.

Itachi did not look amused.

I exhaled again, and a small flame, no larger than my thumbnail, emerged from my lips.

Itachi remained constant. As pathetic as my fire was, I was thanking God. It was all I needed, hopefully. I blew on the bird, and hurled it.

And then things went to hell in a split second.

Red, white, yellow…loud noise. The sound of thunder, just feet away. I panicked, saw my chance, turned, and ran.

My bare feet thumping rapidly, the force of the explosion pushed forcefully against my back. My heart beat horribly in my ribcage, I came to the edge of the building, the fire breathing down my neck. Without thinking, I flung upward.

I jumped…

_-to be continued in the next installment-_


	18. Warning

**Comments**: I passed all of my exams with flying colors! I'm so proud of myself. Thanks for all the reviews, I appriciate them all (even the slightly threatening ones...eh-heh...).

* * *

…and grasped the first thing I touched in mid-flight.

A large, circular lantern was clasped possessively betwixt my clumsy fingers. The lantern was attached to the long rope running from the Hokage Tower to the ground below. I had planned on climbing down, but my weight pulled hard on the lantern. For a split second, I thought it was going to break and I was going to tumble to earth.

I didn't, however I _was _moving. My weight had caused the metal holding of the lantern to slide down the rope, while I was still attached to it. The scroll hung limply against my back, my legs flailed forward, trying to keep steady.

I descended fast, I couldn't tell what was going on. Everything around me was turning and twisting and a horrible blur of distorted reality. I had to blink and shake my head several times to realize what was happening, and I when I did I felt a large swelling of hope that I was going to get out alive.

That was, until I glanced down and saw Itachi standing on the earth below, waiting for me.

My fingers fumbled in surprise, and halfway down my decent I let go in panic. I fell a good length, and landed on my injured rib. I let out a loud yelp, and clung tightly to my sides. The pain was ridiculous, but nonetheless I tried to claw my way to my feet. I couldn't, and just lied there whimpering like a dying puppy.

Itachi was there in a split second. The scroll had fell off of my back and landed a few feet away from me. He bent over and picked it up, glancing back at me.

Red eyes, small black circles rotated like pinwheels. How had he gotten down here so fast? That was impossible…

But at that moment I realized something that was incredibly odd.

It was silent.

There was no noise of distant battle, no frantic cries of pedestrians caught up in the mix, no explosions in the expanse of the background. In fact, the only clear thing I could make out in vivid color was myself…and Itachi.

Could I…but how? He didn't move anything…

Could I be caught in some sort of genjutsu?

So everything I had done had been pointless? I don't know. I didn't know what the hell was going on, but what I _did _know was that I couldn't move. He looked down at me for several seconds before turning and walking off, the scroll in hand. His figure disappeared as my eyelids grew heavy, eventually shutting.

And then, I died.

---

Okay, not really. But I might as well have, because when I woke up the first thing I noticed was the unbearable pain in my sides and black everywhere. I flickered my eyes open finally. I sucked a hard breath in through my teeth and crawled to my knees. The sky was dark, and there was no loud noises in the distance. I tried to get to my feet, and with much pain and effort managed to.

I heard some yelling in the distance, a few shouts of orders to search the damage. I brushed myself off and grit my teeth in recollection.

Itachi had made off with the scroll. And it was _my _fault.

He and Kisame and the others where probably miles away by now. Judging by the sky I had probably been lying there for several hours. I tried to stand erect, by I couldn't walk with limping slightly. I turned and started trudging towards the Hokage Tower. I couldn't get it back now, but I could at least inform someone of _where _it was.

The tower wasn't too far, I had landed pretty close to it. However, it took all of my effort to get myself there.

Two Jounin, a man and a woman, were standing there conversing about something important. I had to get pretty close before they noticed my presence, but when they did, they ran right to me.

"I need to speak to the Hokage right away," I said, my voice was cracking horribly. The man slung my arm around his shoulder in an attempt to help me stand up straight.

"We need to get you to a hospital first," the woman said. "All complaints should be filed after we get this mess sorted out. All pedestrians are to remain inside,"

I shook my head. "No, I'm a Jounin," I said. She didn't really look convinced, but she listened. "I have to tell the Hokage something…it's impotant. About…the _Konohagakure Chokugaku_."

Well, that really got her attention, so she motioned to the man, and they both helped me in. The hallways were as I remembered, charred and busted in spots. The bodies had been removed, though, and replaced with living ones. Lots of people were in the hallways, chattering and investigating, and doing stuff that I couldn't describe accurately. It was all way beyond me, plus I was sort of on a one-track thought at the moment.

When we got to the Hokage's office, I released the man helping me and tried to stand on my own. The room had been completely cleared, but the floor still displayed several black charcoaled stains and dents from the previous explosions. Several nin were examining everything, and the Hokage stood center, near the windows.

I stepped in meekly, and cleared my throat to get her attention.

Well, to make an extremely long story short, I explained everything to her. Right from when I got captured, to why I was here now. Well, I left out _some _parts. Like, the stuff she _didn't _need to know…but the point is, I got my story told. With every sentence, however, she seemed to get madder and madder. The thing that was hardest for me was the fact I didn't know if it was _me _she was mad at. Plus, it was hard for me to concentrate when her humongous cleavage was staring at me.

She was silent for the longest time, which made me even more uncomfortable. After a moment, she turned to a brunette woman standing near her and finally spoke. Her tone was calm, yet bitterly piercing.

"Shizune, Get me Captain Toshiyo."

I perked. Toshiyo? _Captain_?

Within a minute, there were three ANBU nin in the room with me. Tsunade explained everything to them, but I couldn't pay enough attention. The man in the center, the tallest one with the wolverine mask, was Toshiyo Motoe. My former teammate. I couldn't regonize him, of course, because of his mask. But his voice…I was certain it was the one and the same. He was already a _Captain_? I thought he wasn't going to even be admitted as an ANBU until _April_…

He didn't wave or anything, that would have looked extremely unprofessional, but he did flash a glance in my direction. At least, I think he did. It was hard to tell with the mask on. Tsunade kept talking.

"…and I want you three and your squandrant on it right away. Also, bring Hatake and Yuuhi along with you, they've dealt with Akatsuki before, it would be safer."

My ears perked. Darn, I really need to learn to start paying better attention. Was she sending a team to go retrieve the scroll? Quickly, without thinking, I spoke up,

"Eh, Hokage-sama!" I squeaked. She stopped, and turned to look down at me. She look surprised to see that I was still standing there.

"Hm? Ai? Did you need something?"

I wet my lips. "Um, please, let…let me go, too."

She stared, along with the others, at me for a few seconds. Her expression was blank, as if she was waiting for me to say the punch line. My cheeks grew red. After a moment, she sighed and shook her head.

"Listen, Ai, I appreciate your efforts, but I don't think-"

"Please!" I interrupted. "I…I think I know how to deal with…one of them," I was mumbling, but I think I got my point across. She looked uncertain.

"But, you're injured…"

"It's nothing," I lied, shaking my head. "Please, Hokage-sama. I've dealt with them. I know I can be of some help, _please_…"

It was quiet, she was thinking. I bit my lower lip in anticipation. She looked as if she were seriously considering everything thoroughly. Finally, she spoke.

"I suppose, since you've already dealt with one of them, maybe you could just…"

She trailed off, but she didn't need to finish her sentence. My heart leaped.

"Oh...thank you, Hokage-sama!" I said before she could change her mind.

I would get to talk to him again.

_-to be continued in the next installment-_


	19. Setting Out

**Comments**: I'm going to put Kisame in the next chapter, I promise! (Well, at least I hope...). Just building things up some more. Thanks for the reviews, as always. I love getting them, and I love rereading them. I also like getting C+C and such. I plan on keeping the chapters the length they are now, but in future projects I'll see to make them longer. I hope to be writing more fanfictions with Kisame in the future, but I haven't decided on who to put him with. I love doing crack, so I'm leaning towards another Kisame x Tenten fanfic. Hee hee, anyway, I've talked long enough, to the fanfic...enjoy!

* * *

We didn't leave right away, but Tsunade did tell us to be prepared to depart at any minute. She sent out a platoon of tracking dogs to see which way they were headed, and to be on the safe side told us to wait. I was a little anxious to get going, but I didn't outwardly protest. 

I was sent to the small infirmary located for emergencies on the second floor of the Hokage Tower. An ANBU medical nin applied some sort of fancy-pants jutsu on my rib, and it worked like a charm. It was still sore and uncomfortable, but I could walk on my own now. Afterwards I went to my house and checked in with my parents, whom I hadn't seen in what seemed like ages.

My mother had been hysterical, and my pap seemed as if he'd grown several more gray hairs than I last remembered. I couldn't stay long, I had to report back to the Tower immediately, but I promised to inform them on what was going on as soon as I returned. I was just relieved to see both of them had gotten through the attack in one piece. I had been afraid my dad would have his fighter's spirit emerge and do something incredibly stupid.

At around 5 a.m., I reported back to Tsunade. I wasn't the only one there, Toshiyo and his squadron of four, five including him, were there, as well as a few more familiar faces. Hatake Kakashi, Yuuhi Kurenai, Sarutobi Asuma, and…

"Ah! Sadako-chan! I'm so glad to see you're all right!" said the green spandex monster.

I jumped slightly in surprise. "Eh…G-Gai-san? You're coming, too?"

He grinned that grin he usually did, and nodded, and I just stood there and smiled nervously.

"The Hokage-sama instructed all of us to accompany the ANBU squad as well, as we all have dealt with Akatsuki before," Kurenai spoke up. I nodded stupidly. I felt really short and useless amongst all these towering combatants.

It was funny, I remember seeing them at the Acadamy, back when we all were younger. All of them were a few years my senior, so they'd graduated before I had. And Kurenai-san…wow, she was so _pretty_. Just like when she was younger. Yet she had changed a whole lot…

…Unlike me. I think Kurenai stole my breasts. I mean, look at her! She has enough for two people…

Tsunade started saying important stuff about what was going on. It was too boring for my tastes, so I watched a butterfly a few feet away instead. By the time she was done speaking, someone walked up and handed her a scroll, before disappearing again. She opened it and eyed it a bit.

Clearing her throat, she shut the scroll back up and handed it to Toshiyo.

"Here, this is the location documented by the tracking team," she explained. Toshiyo nodded and tucked it in his cloak. I stood there and fumbled with the zipper of my Jounin vest.

The ten of us were then instructed to head out, and we did just that. I had a little bit of trouble keeping up with everyone, but I somehow managed. We were out of the village and into the woods in minutes.

While he traveled in unison, Toshiyo made some sort of fancy hand motions to his fellow ANBU. I couldn't make anything of it, but luckily after a little while we stopped and he started explaining where we were headed.

I felt so weird being there, like I didn't belong. Everyone else had such a professional game face on, and I just sort of stood there and followed what they did. Anyway, he explained where they were headed, about halfway out to Sunagakure. He told us to split into groups of two, and meet up at a designated location. He said it was because apparently it was too dangerous to be traveling in such a large group. Whatever happened to safety in numbers?

For a split second, I thought I was going to be paired up with Gai. That freaked me out a bit, because in all honesty, that guy kind of gave me the creeps. Fortunately, Toshiyo paired us up so as one Jounin and one ANBU were together, for safety reasons. And even more fortunate, Toshiyo was my partner. I think he did that on purpose, too. That guy had always looked out for me, ever since we were little. Well, while we had been genin, I haven't seen much of him up until now.

We all were given a meetin spot, and then we spread out. I just followed Toshiyo, of course. We didn't talk much, because I got the impression he was an elite ANBU guy now and that would cramp his style. Or something. I dunno.

Well, it didn't matter much. My mind was on other things. Like, what I was going to do when I saw Kisame again. I felt really happy about the thought of talking to him, for some odd reason, but I was terrified at the same time. I had no idea what to say to him. I would probably ask the same question I did last time, and hopefully I could get an answer out of him without being interrupted. Which brought me to another thought, how the hell was I going to get him alone? He was with his pretty boy and the others, so I doubt I could spark a casual conversation in front of them. Kisame was such a dummy, he'd probably try to brush me off casually or something. Or threaten to chop my legs off.

And on that note, what the hell was I doing here, anyway? I couldn't fight or anything. This was a mission to retrieve a scroll, not engage in small talk with the enemy. That was my only reason for coming, right? Well, no…I had to get the scroll back. It was my duty. It was my fault in the first place it was gone. If I had never tried to get it out in the first place, they never would have found it or known where it was.

What were they going to do with it, anyway? Hold the village for ransom? Really, I had no idea what was in that darn thing, but whatever it was, it was pretty damn important. Probably something my simple mind could never fathom. Not that I wanted to know. Hmpf.

"Sadako, are you all right?"

I snapped out of my thoughts and turned to face Toshiyo. I almost tripped on a tree branch as my attention shifted. He was still facing forward, I think, but he was definitely talking to me. I shook my head.

"Uh, yeah…I'm just thinking about…stuff."

"Are you wondering what you're going to say to him?"

I almost fell over on my face. I grew red and shot an exasperated look at him.

"W-what are you talking about?"

His voice was constant. "Sadako, I've known you for almost fifteen years, you're easy to read as a book."

I bit my lower lip and blushed. I looked pouty, and he seemed to find that funny; he let out a low chuckle.

"When I heard all that had happened, I made some conjectures of my own. Based on what I knew about you."

"What are you trying to say?" I snapped back.

He stopped running and perched, standing straight, on a tree branch. I stopped, too, but almost fell and had a little trouble straightening my posture.

"Your body language. Your facial expressions. I took note when Tsunade-sama was talking."

I adjusted my posture. "So? Everyone makes faces, otherwise…uh…we'd be faceless." …what the hell? Sadako, do you even listen to yourself when you talk?

He shook his head. "Sadako…you've always been a good friend of mine. I know you better than you may think,"

I snorted.

He paused. "I don't know who this guy is," he stared at me with those painted eyes. I could almost feel his gaze through his mask. "but I just want you to know, it's dangerous."

I cocked my head.

"What's dangerous? I can hold my own, Toshiyo. I may not be as good as you, but…" I trailed off when I saw him shaking his head.

"No, Sadako, not what I meant."

I narrowed my eyes. He always did this. Talked all smart-people talk so as I had no idea what the hell he was getting at. I wish he'd hurry up and dumb it down for me. He adjusted his footing, prepared to start going again.

"I'm just saying, it's dangerous to fall in love with a criminal."

With that, he jumped to a tree branch ahead, and continued to going. I stood there a second, drinking in his words.

In love?

With Kisame?

_Me_?

I shook my head. I didn't have any time to contemplate it then, I was being left behind. Quickly, I turned and darted after my teammate.

We didn't talk for the rest of the day, but I couldn't have anyway. My mind was on only one thing.

I was in love with Kisame?

What a curious thought _that_ was.

_-to be continued in the next installment-_


	20. Yes or No or ?

**Comments:** This chapter isn't as nice as I would have liked. I'm afraid lately I've been bitten by the procrastination bug...and the writer's block bug. Oh well, at least I haven't given up. The story is almost over, and I'm _determined_ to finish it!

* * *

We made good time. At around nine o'clock at night, we all met in the designated location. We were still a good bit off from Suna, it was still a little foresty (although it _was_ considerably clearer). Toshiyo checked the instructions again and confirmed that the Akatsuki were last seen in this general area.

I was exhausted. Physically because we had been running all say, and the thought of future combat made me shudder. Mentally, because my brain couldn't fathom all the peculiar thoughts that had been recently running through it. And since I apparently have A.D.D., my mind kept wandering off to other things all day, only to trace back to the main thought that occupied my brain.

I was in love with Kisame?

No…

That's stupid. Toshiyo didn't know what he was talking about. Like he said, he'd never even _met _the guy. I mean, come on…just take a _look _at him!

He was tall and bulky and _blue_ and looked like he belonged more in a lobster tank than in a wedding chapel.

I must have been making stupid faces while I was thinking, because Kurenai gently placed her hand on my shoulder.

"Sadako-san…is everything all right?"

I snapped back into reality and blushed. Toshiyo had been talking to everyone, about important stuff I guess, and I wasn't paying a lick of attention. I swallowed and nodded.

"Yeah…I'm fine,"

She gave me a kind and concerned smile, but put her attention back on what our instructor was saying.

Toshiyo went over everything, our surroundings, what we were up against, crap like that. He then told us to split up and observe the perimeter. I bit my lower lip and stayed quiet. Everyone nodded in understanding. We were instructed to remain within a good shouting distance, so as we could signal the others in case we came across anything.

He passed a glanced at me before ordering us to move out. It was a quixotic glance. Partly because it was just a mask and I couldn't see any of his face, and partly because it was if he was urging me to do or say something. I couldn't read too much into it, with seconds he was just a hazy black blur, as were the others.

I jumped off in the only directions the others hadn't, which was safe to assume the direction assigned to me. Perhaps next time I should pay more attention. Maybe. _Hmmffpttt_…

It was hot out, and dark. I couldn't see well at night, so I moved slowly. For a while, I jumped from tree to tree, but after about half a mile I got tired of jumping and just decided to hoof it. I was tired enough as it was.

My mind was a jumble. What was I doing here, anyway? My chest still hurts. And it's dark out, and I'm tired and sweaty. And what was with Toshiyo's little glance? It's not like I could read what he wants from me with that stupid mask on. Hell, even if he _wasn't_ wearing the damn thing, I probably wouldn't know what he wanted. He's such a weirdo.

I'm not that easy to read. At least…I don't think I am. Perhaps…I don't know. But still, even if I was, how could one decipher the fact that I was in love? And of all people, Kisame?

_Well…are you?_

Am I what?

_In love with Kisame._

Of course not!

_Hmm…you sure?_

Shut up. You're not even real, you're just a figment of my imagination arguing with me.

I shook my head, which had by now started to ache considerably. I unzipped my jounin vest and let it hang open in an attempt to get more ventilation; it was bloody hot outside. I licked the bottom of my lips, which had begun to grow dry. I was thirsty.

All this thinking was making me dehydrated; I began eyeing my surroundings for a stream or something. After a good twenty minutes, I heard the faint trickle of water in the distance, so I followed my ears.

Sure enough, there was a watercourse in the mists of a large bushy area. It was about eight feet across, and by the looks of it very shallow. It looked clear enough, so I bent down on my knees and examined it.

It was freshwater, and safe to drink, but I was hesitant about taking a sip. I mean, someone could have taken a piss in here and I wouldn't even know it. Well, fish piss in the river too. I guess. I mean, it's not like they can get out to do it. And they have sex in there, too. Ew. Okay, I need to stop before I change my mind.

I shook my head, I was more thirsty than grossed out. I lowered my hands in the water, which by the way was absolutely freezing, and splashed it on my face. It felt really refreshing. I bent down and cupped my hands again, raising the water to my lips. Oh wow, did _that _feel good.

I rose my head after I got my fill and wiped my mouth on my sleeve. I let out a large exhalation. The water hit my empty stomach like an icy rock hitting the pit of my gut, but I did feel a _little _better. I bent to splash more water on my face, but on my way down, something caught my eye.

A distorted black blob was being reflected in the center of the water. I tensed, and slowly lifted my head to great the owner of the mirror image. Surprisingly enough, I was more curious than scared. However everything seemed to move in slow motion for me.

Large, black cloak…white eyes…spiky, navy hair…

I subconsciously choked out, "Ki…Kisame,"

And there he was. Standing smack in the middle of the river, perched effortlessly on top of the water. Just…standing there, staring. Staring at _me_, with those two, _ungodly_ silver eyes. His mouth was straight, his brow firm. Just a plain, desolate, unreadable expression.

And that's when something inside me just…I don't know, _clicked_.

All my contemplating and evaluations and inner confrontations, all of which were product of my confusing emotions for this man standing right here before me, all of those…just completely discolored. Second thoughts, second guesses…

He stared at me, and I just stared back, unable to do anything. I had just taken a drink, but mysteriously, my throat went dry again. And as if all the water had transferred to a different location of my body, my eyes grew wet.

And then my legs just moved on their own.

I dashed foreward, ungracefully, not bothering to use my chakra to stand above the water. Clumsily, I trudged through the stream and flung my arms around the man. He tensed a little in surprise, but relaxed a moment later and just let me hold on to him. I was short enough as it was, but with him standing on the surface of the water, and me standing on the earth below the stream, my head was nestled up against his stomach.

And I just cried, and clung to him like a baby.

And for a few seconds, I couldn't help but wonder…why? Why had I been so readily to fling myself at him? Why was I holding him? Why was I…crying about it?

It was as if once I had had seen him again, once I had been able to confirm his existence again, that all my questions and inner distresses had their answer. As if the answer had been sitting there the whole time, sipping tea and waving so obviously at me. And I hadn't even realized it.

Perhaps Toshiyo was correct. Perhaps I _was_ effortlessly readable. Perhaps I _did_ give off my feelings and standpoints off far too easily.

Perhaps I hadn't wanted to come along to ask Kisame about his motives.

Perhaps I just wanted to see him again, to hold him. Close to me.

Perhaps…

Perhaps I _was _in love with this man.

_-to be continued in the next installment-_


	21. Confessions & Responses

**Comments: **I've been writing action so long, I forgot how to do romance...wierd. Anyway, I think there is going to be...maybe...one more action scene in this? I'm not sure. I have a few ways I wanna end it, but I haven't decided on the best one yet. Happy reading.

* * *

He smelled like salt. My hands clung to the thick black fabric, pulling him as close as I could. He didn't seem to mind, but he wasn't responding either. Part of me was scared of what on earth could be going through his mind, but the other half wasn't caring at all. I was shaking; partly because I was crying like an idiot, and partly because the water was freezing.

After several eternities passed, I felt his arm raise. He lifted is slowly, then placed his palm on my head. He patted it a couples times as if I were a child.

"Okay…just…uh, stop crying." he mumbled. His voice was awkward.

I inhaled deeply and looked up at him. I must had looked ridiculous, a mixture of tears and snot and dirt decorating my face. He glanced down, and quickly looked the other way. I blinked back the liquid in my eyes. I took a slow step back and wiped my face on my sleeve. My head was lowered, I was biting my lower lip.

Okay, here you are, Sadako. You made the situation awkward enough, you might as well come on out with it and tell him how you feel. I swallowed, then opened my mouth,

Kisame turned and started walking off. I tensed and gasped,

"Wh-where you going?"

"Get out of the water," he mumbled.

I looked down and realized I was still standing shin-deep in the freezing river. Blushing, I trudged forward and followed him to the bank on the opposite side of the stream.

When I got out, I bent over and pulled my wet sandals off. I placed them on the ground, but since it was dark out it wasn't likely they were going to get dry fast. Kisame was just standing there, looking at me, yet avoiding my gaze at the same time. It was obvious he wasn't going to say anything until I started talking, so I cleared my throat and ventured.

"Um…Kisame, I, uh…" my voice trailed. What was I going to say again…?

"Why are you here?" he asked. It sounded more like a statement however than a question. My voice was cracking when I spoke.

"I…I'm onna mission," I muttered, though I didn't sound very convincing.

He rose and eyebrow at me. I flustered.

"I…uh, I, well….I kinda….missed you," I said. He seemed to be unresponsive at first, but after a moment, he exhaled and shook his head.

"…what?" he asked. He sounded…skeptical? I don't know.

That kind of got on my nerves. My face heated, and my response was a bit snippy sounding.

"I said I missed you. The least you could do is pretend to be happy about it," I snorted, crossing my arms.

"Why?" he asked.

"Because," I spat, "Most people should be happy when they found out someone actually gives a rat's ass about where they are!" He shook his head.

"No," he said, "I meant, why did you miss me?"

I stopped short. Blushing, I took a little time to consider why, when of course the answer was obvious. My face heated tremendously. My hands rose, and I subconsciously began poking my index fingers together in a sheepish gesture. I avoided his eyes.

"Uh…b-because…I, um…"

It was as if all words in the word had jumped out of my brain. Oh, crap…what was I going to say to him? I…I couldn't remember…

My gazed faltered and met his.

Oh, don't look at me like that…

He took an ungainly step forward and slowly raised his hand, placing it awkwardly on my shoulder.

"Sadako, you should just g--"

"Kisame, I'm in love with you!" I spat suddenly. A second later, however, I wished I could grab my words and shoved them back down my throat. The peculiar look that suddenly crossed his face, a mixture of unidentifiable emotions, set a shock of "oh crap what did I just do?" across my brain.

He withdrew his hand, and stared at me. He stared for the longest time, drinking in what I said. I stood there, frozen in horror of my own actions, and waited. It took him several moments to process everything. After what seemed like forever, he finally responded.

He sighed and turned his head slightly to the side, as if looking at something far off in the distance. I swallowed and just stood there. After a moment, he turned and stared at me, really hard. A look of contemplating and pity. My eyes lowered to the earth. I felt reluctant tears growing again.

Well, what did you expect, Sadako? You probably freaked him out now. Quick, do something…say you were just kidding, or something. Anything! Just…

…I don't want him to look at me like that anymore.

I wet my lips and tried my best to sound convincing.

"Eh…hahaha…sorry, I just…" My voice trailed off.

And then something peculiar happened.

Kisame bent forward and kissed me.

And my eyes went as large as dinner plates. I couldn't process what on earth was happening at first, but moments passed and I realized I just didn't care. I closed my eyes and lifted my arms to wrap around him again.

This one was different than the one before. It was…softer? Not as claiming…tender, affectionate.

I felt his hand on the back of my head, his rough fingers entwining in my hair. A serene flood of pacification and contentment washed over me. My eyes were still wet, but the tears had been assigned a different motive.

And then, he parted, just barely. His lips suspend, hovering over mine. He traced across my cheek, down. His breath hung in my ear tantalizingly, sending a chill through me. And time stood still. His breath, silent, words trailed out through his barely parted lips. Words meant for _me_. Words that I could claim for my _own_. Words meant for _no one _else on earth but twenty-three year old Sadako Ai of the Leaf.

Three little words…

"I love you…"

Those were at least the ones I expected to hear. However, those weren't the ones I got. They fell more along the lines of,

"God, you're stupid…"

My face heated, but there was a slight aura of humor in his voice. He pulled away, still holding on to me. I blushed and stared at him, waiting for him to respond more properly. My face muscles felt tight, like I was struggling not to say something stupid. However, I needn't worry, I think he covered that department well enough.

"What do you mean by that?" I asked.

He looked down at me and smiled. _Smiled_. Not a creepy, threatening, "I'm going to chop your legs off" kind of smile, but a softer, more genuine one that caused my face to heat up more than it already was. I bit my lower lip again, contemplating what I should say.

"S-so…uh…" I choked out, clearing my throat.

I lifted my two hands up and made a linking-motion with them. My voice was cracking, but calmer than it had been.

"Does this mean…um…we're boyfriend-and-girlfriend now?"

He was still, and looked at me with a very peculiar face. He didn't need to say anything, his expression screamed, "Seriously, are you that stupid?". I blushed but stood there hopefully for a response.

"What are you, in middle school?" he said skeptically. I blushed furiously and shot my gaze the opposite way.

"N-no, I just thought that…uh…"

He shook his head. Letting me free from his grasp, he turned and started walking. My head shot up.

"Wh-where'ya going?"

He stopped, without turning. "It's late, your team will probably be wondering where you are, you should get going."

My face fell.

"We…we're not returning to Konoha until we get that scroll back, you know." I spoke softly.

He stood completely still. I swallowed.

"Tomorrow…will…will you meet me here again?" I asked sheepishly. He turned his head slightly back, looking at me.

"For what purpose? I can't just hand it over to you," he said. I shook my head.

"N-no…I…" I muttered. "I just…want to spend time with you, I guess."

He was quiet for a moment. After several silent moments, he replied.

"…fine,"

Despite the fact I had to walk back in wet shoes, I was smiling the whole way.

_-to be continued in the next installment-_


	22. Sacrifices

**Comments:** I'm SO sorry this is SO late! I was grounded from my precious computer, and when I got it back I had the whole thing written. My computer hates me and a lot of my files got deleted, including this one...I kept putting it off out of discouragment, but I was finally able to rewrite this chapter. It's not as good as the first version, though...

* * *

When I got to camp, the moon was high above my head. The only other people there were Kurenai and an ANBU. They seemed relieved when they saw me.

Kurenai explained how they hadn't seen any trace of any Akatsuki, so they were planning on camping here and looking tomorrow, when it was light out. I just nodded in agreement and commented on how tired I was. She didn't seem surprised. I leant against a tree where a tarp had been hung. Kurenai was to stay awake and await any other teammates returning to base, which made me feel bad for wanting to go directly to sleep.

You couldn't blame me, though. I was exhausted, not to mention incredibly anxious to see a certain someone tomorrow. Kurenai must have noticed my giddiness in my face, because she walked to where I was leaning with a concerned face.

"Sadako…are you all right? You look…strange," My face grew red. Oh crap, I was grinning and I couldn't stop. "Are you happy about something?"

"Happy? Me? Uh….n-no, well, not about anything in particular….w…why do you ask?" I replied to her frantically, however my stupid mouth seemed to be stuck. She furrowed her brow and sat next to me.

"Sadako…are you sure you should be out here?" she asked, her voice was rather maternal. I blushed and focused my gaze on something else, my feet. I swallowed.

"Of course I'm sure…I mean…I feel responsible for…" I, for some reason, couldn't finish my words. She sighed.

"Sadako, if anything, you should feel proud of yourself for actually trying to do something. However…" I listened intently, ears perked. "…I _do _want to say I don't think it was a very smart thing to do on your own,"

My head fell. She didn't say it in a harsh tone, not at all. It was more of a…statement. A fact. Like, she was just declaring a fact, a law of nature. My cheeks grew red, because I know she was right…It hadn't been a very smart thing to do at all. If I hadn't tried to get the scroll in the first place, they would never have found it. It would still be safe in the Hokage's Office…

She seemed to be able to sense what I felt, because she put a hand on my shoulder and smiled. "But, it was a very _brave _thing of you to do,"

I looked up at her. Brave? _Me_? I was still afraid of getting shots at the doctor's office and can't sleep with the closet door open. But…well, I guess bravery and stupidity can fall under the same category. This time, maybe. I smiled sheepishly. The ANBU greeted two more members of our team as they returned to base.

"Um…thank you, Kurenai-san…" She smiled.

"Now…what's on your mind? You seemed troubled,"

I blushed and thought a moment. I couldn't flat out and say what was going on…that was deceitful, I know, but I just _couldn't_. You don't blame me, right? Right. I decided to stay as secretive as I could, but allow her at least a little knowledge. She was such a nice person and a friend of mine, after all.

"Um, Kurenai-san…" I began, twirling my fingers. She waited paitently for me to continue. "I…really…._like_…this person, but, uh…" my voice trailed off. Oh drat, what was I going to say? How am I supposed to word this question, anyway? 'I'm in love with a criminal, and he's got something illegal I have to get back, but I want to stay with him, but that wouldn't be possible due to our current affiliations?' Yeah, that should work. I cleared my throat.

"And they…they're doing something _bad_, that I'm supposed to stop. But I know they won't…and I still want to _be _with them…but because of the bad thing they're doing, that probably won't work out so well?"

There was a steady silence for several moments. I looked at her, and she was giving me a most curious look. I could tell she knew I was talking about something big and important, but she didn't have any guess to what it was. She took a deep breath and looked as if she were thinking terribly hard. It was a little awkward for me, but after a moment she exhaled and began speaking.

"…Sadako," she said, as motherly as ever, "…when…two people are in _love_," she sounded a bit ill at ease when using that word, also as if she had experienced this sort of thing first-hand, but she continued. "…and are in a difficult situation…they need to both know they have to make sacrifices." She bit her lower lip and paused. "And if neither of the two are willing to do so…then I suppose it isn't really love then." When she saw the blank look on my face, she quickly added, "But that's just what _I _think."

I considered this for quite a bit. She seemed to notice I was really thinking about a lot, so she bid me a good night and told me to get some rest. I mumbled a response and just sat there. It was dark, and I was tired, and all this in my head had started to give me a headache.

Sacrifices, huh? Well…what _could _I do? I was excited about seeing him tomorrow, but now that I think about it…is there really a point? Kisame…he wasn't the type of man to give up his lifestyle for a woman. At least, from what I knew of him. I just couldn't run away and join him or something...I doubt I'd fit well in a group of sinisterly illicit men. So there wasn't really anything either of us could do.

…Oh, dear. I felt my stomach just drop.

Suddenly, there was a very peculiar feeling in my chest. It was a mixture of hopelessness and heart burn. I took a few deep breaths and curled into a ball under the tarp. I clenched my eyes shut; I could hear the voices of everyone else returning to base. I knew we'd be up super early the next morning, but I also knew sleep would be virtually impossible.

Somehow, however, I seemed to manage.

---

I was the last one to wake up, and earned a stern scolding from Toshiyo. I was too busy picking the crud out of my ear to listen, so he got even more frustrated with me. Nevertheless, the troop somehow got managed, and we headed out again.

I walked slowly down the dirt path on my way to the stream again. I was gathering all my thoughts, and having a hell of a time doing it. I didn't know what on earth I was going to say to him, or how I was going to say whatever it was I was going to say to him to him. Or what he was going to say when I said to him what I was going to say….to him.

I have a headache.

It was still early, and it was delightfully cool. Lucky for me, because I was sweating for a different reason all ready. I bit my lower lip, which by now had become chapped, as I walked. Kurenai's words kept replaying in my mind.

_People in love should make sacrifices for each other._

Sacrifices…

But, what could I sacrifice? And…would I be willing to do it? What could I do to make this work? To make it so I could do the right thing and be with him? Because…

My heart hurts. It's what I want, I know. But…I have a responsibility. To myself, and to the leaf. My family, friends…

I…I couldn't just leave that all behind, could I?

…would I be _willing_ to?

I stopped walking. I heard a few chirps from birds in the distance; my surroundings a thick vat of trees and a dirt path. Turn here, and I'd be at the stream in no time. My brain throbbed, I had a headache again. Biting my blistering lip, I turned and started on the way to the stream.

I would probably be early. We didn't exactly set a time to meet, so for all I know he'd assumed we'd meet at the same time we left. Or something. Almost there…

I stepped through the trees, my throat went dry.

He was sitting there, on the other side of the stream, leaning against a tree. His leg was propped up, his arm resting upon it. His sword had been leant against another tree nearby.

He spotted me in the corner of his eye, and turned his head to face me.

"Shorty," he said.

I bit my lip hard to keep it from quivering. My face scrunched, my eyes grew a little damp. I smiled.

"Sharky," I said.

I took a step forward, stopping at the water's edge. He watched intently as I moved. I twiddled my thumbs, building the gall to speak.

People in love should make sacrifices for each other.

"Kisame," I said. "Let's run away."

_-to be continued in the next installment-_


	23. Challenge

**Comments: **I COULDN'T GET TO SLEEP LAST NIGHT SO I WROTE SOME STUFF. Seriously, it's about 7:30 am and I haven't slept a wink. So I got up and wrote. ENJOY MY LABOR AND TOIL. Chapters shall come slower than before. Slowly, but surely. Maybe one to two weeks apart. Possibly sooner, if I'm not so lazy.

* * *

It had physically pained my mouth to strain those words out, but I was actually glad I said them. However, Kisame's response was quite….questionable. He sat there, staring at me, as if waiting for me to deliver the punch line of some sort of joke. When it didn't come, he blinked a few times and opened his mouth slightly as if he were going to speak. He closed his mouth again, blinked a few more times, and repeated the gesture. When he finally spoke, I kind of wished I hadn't said anything at all.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

My face fell, I stiffened.

Well, what were you expecting? I cleared my throat.

"Um…I was just thinking that, uh…" I couldn't really pinpoint what I was thinking, let alone construct them into a proper sentence. He looked around a bit, then gestured for me to join him on the other side of the river. I was quiet, but made it across. This time I actually bothered using my chakra to keep myself from getting wet. I sat down, Indian-style, a few feet away from him. I was mostly concentrating on the dirt between us than his face.

I was a little anxious. Well, even more anxious than I had been before. Not only of how on earth I was going to explain where that sudden proclamation came from, but also at the fact of our location. I mean, it was out in the open…what if someone were to see us here? I bit my lower lip and twiddled my fingers.

"Um," I began sheepishly, "Kisame, I…uh…was just thinking, and, uh…"

I sighed. Oh dear. I had no earthly idea what I should say.

"Sadako, it wouldn't do anything if we did run away." My head shot up.

"U-uh…?" He blinked and narrowed his eyes. A very serious, uncomfortable tone was in his voice.

"First of all, if we _were _to run away, _where _on earth would we go? I'm not very good at _blending in_,"

I blushed. I guess he was right, but still…

"I…I dunno," I said quietly. "But….anywhere would be okay with me, ya know…if uh, we…were together, you know?" I was growing very quiet and sounding very unsure of myself.

He exhaled, sounding rather frustrated with me, yet at the same time sympathetic. It was quiet for some time. Neither of us really knew what to do or say. I had a strong urge to reach out and touch him, or hug him, or, well…just get _closer _to him, but I knew better than to act upon it. I faced the ground, my fists gripping at the earth.

"Well…uh," I started softly, "If…if we can't do anything to…to be _together_," I said those words very awkwardly, they tasted bitter on my tongue. "…then…um, what are we supposed to do _now_?"

I reviewed the sentence in my head. It didn't come out very clear, I'm not sure I understood it myself, but nonetheless he seemed to get the point. He was thinking, and I was waiting. I could tell he didn't know at all what to say, so after a few moments of silence, I continued speaking.

"…because, um," I gripped the dirt tighter, I had a sudden feeling of dizziness although I wasn't standing. "If…If we aren't anything…_different_," I was having the hardest time wording this, but he listened intently. "…then that makes us …_enemies_."

That word, _enemies_, hung in the air for what seemed like forever. It must have poisoned the air, because my lungs had rapidly gained the peculiar feeling of swelling and burning. My eyes weren't dry, and even if they were I wouldn't be able to see his reaction. I kept facing the earth, basking in the discomfiture. I finally worked up what I needed to look up at him, and when I did, he spoke.

"…if that's how you see it," he said.

_Ouch_.

Those words were more painful than any flesh wound I had ever felt. Well, figuratively speaking. He kept talking when he saw the look on my face.

"But if that's the case," he said. "You're in one hell of a predicament. How do you expect to get the scroll back from me? That is, hypothetically speaking, if I was actually carrying it? Which, by the way, is extremely unlikely."

I suddenly had the most paralyzing suspicion he was trying to be funny. The suspicion was confirmed when I saw the smallest hint of a smirk on his lips. My face fell, my eyes grew narrow.

"Are you poking fun at me?" I hissed. He didn't answer, but I could tell his motives just from looking at him.

I stood up.

"I'm not joking around here!" I snapped. My fists were shaking. I couldn't help it, I was beginning to grow very angry with him. Of course, the big blue dummy didn't know the first thing about a woman's feelings, because he didn't seem to notice.

"Who said I was joking?" he asked in feigned sincerity. At this point, I want to smack the big stupid smirk right off of his face.

My eyes were watery. Did he not understand how this was…making me feel? I mean…I've been upset about things before, but _damn_. For once in my life, I'm actually thinking of someone other than myself. Well, okay…not once in my life…but damnit, I am offering to make a big sacrifice for him, and he's poking fun at me. Perhaps…

…perhaps our sentiments aren't on the same level.

Oh, dear.

I grit my teeth and blinked my urge to burst out into tears and whine like a baby away. I stood up straight; correcting my posture. I went to turn around to leave, he called after me.

"…where'ya going?" he asked, simply.

Calmly, focusing strongly on not breaking down, I responded. Not answering his question, but I did convey my severity to him.

"You shouldn't be so nonchalant, Kisame." I said. "The day is very young, and you're surrounded by enemies. Not a smart idea to by lying around amusing yourself."

Wow, I sounded like a total bitch. Which was actually kind of cool, really. Usually when given the opportunity to dog someone out, I slump into the corner and pretend I'm somewhere else. Kisame didn't seemed fazed nor concerned at my words, though.

"What's this?" he asked. "A declaration of war?" he chuckled. I snorted. Not on purpose, it's just I can't scoff without snorting.

"If you want to call it that." I said simply. Partly because I thought it would make me sounder cool and nonchalant, and partly because I didn't have any witty responses to hand out.

He chuckled slightly under his breath. He was clearly enjoying himself. Did he still think I was joking? What a _bastard_…

I grinded my teeth to keep myself from biting my tongue.

"You may laugh, Kisame. But just know…I'm not going home until I get that scroll."

My words sounded serious enough, because he stopped chortling. I wasn't facing him, but I had the mental image of him blinking and cocking his head before he spoke.

"First off, for all you know, I don't have it on me. Second, what makes you think, even _if _you could somehow defeat me and hold me in a position of interrogation, that'd I'd _tell _you where it was?"

Erk.

Um, well, uh...

Well, didn't I feel stupid. A bead of sweat fell down my brow. I blinked a few times and cleared my throat.

"I…I…don't know." I said, my head fell.

It was unbearably awkward how fast I went from serious and calm headed to embarrassed and defeated. Worse off, what was I supposed to do now? I had basically made an entire fool of myself. Maybe I should just start walking and….y'know…never….ever stop. Maybe I'd end up in a nice place. Like Antarctica. I bet I could meet a cute Eskimo guy there or something. Stop. Focus, dummy.

"I tell you what," he spoke suddenly. I perked and turned to face in, my interest piqued. He was still smiling. In his hand, a strap. On the strap…

…the scroll.

I stiffened. He smirked even more.

"…If you can get the scroll from me before your squadron leaves, you can have it." My face grew red with the next sentence. "…and I'll leave with you,"

My heart sunk.

Oh boy.

I really had my work cut out for me.

_-to be continued in the next installment-_


	24. Decision

**Comments:** Did you all think I was dead? Nah, I'm not. I'm in the process of moving and some court-related things, so I barely get the time to write anymore...kind of sad. Oh well. Reviews are nice, thank you guys ♥

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Rule Number One of the Battlefield: If the enemy is in range, so are you.

The sun was at an angle, just barely over the trees. It was hot, but I somehow was able to ignore the heat long enough formulate an attack. Which, unfortunately, had taken longer than I would have liked…but I was pretty sure my presence had been undetected.

It had been a few hours since he had proclaimed the unusual challenge. I had decided to take it seriously; as ridiculous at my chances were. Trying never hurt….right? Right. Right…right. I licked my lower lip in apprehension as my target approached. Sweat gathered on my neck, I clenched the handle of the kunai firmly.

And there he was, in plain sight. Standing there. His stupid sword on his back, and the stupid scroll right next to it. And as if Lady Luck had smiled upon me, he seemed as oblivious as ever. I swallowed silently as he grew closer. All right, now or never…

Quickly, I leapt from my hiding spot. Habitually, I let out a ridiculously unnecessary battle cry as I lunged the kunai forward. He turned his head in my direction, and as fast as a simile, grabbed the kunai mid-flight and flung back in my direction.

I panicked, jumped back, bent over just as the flash of metal flew over my body. I lost my balance and fell backward completely in the dirt.

Seriously, Sadako, what the hell was that?

I jumped up as quickly as I could, and dashed to the side. He stood there nonchalantly, intrigued. I bolted, turned on my foot and dashed towards him. He braced for my punch, but I was balanced awkwardly and ended up tackling him in the midriff. He seemed to be put off guard by the peculiar move, because he lost his balance and toppled over.

I blinked a few times, frantically thinking of an offensive tactic I should take. Of course I'm not good at thinking on my feet, so I leant to the side and bit him on the arm. He let out a small snarking noise.

Rule Number Two of the Battlefield: If it's stupid and it works, then it isn't stupid.

However, the matter in my mouth dispersed into air as I was enveloped in a large cloud of white smoke. I fell a short distance to the earth, coughing and wheezing from the sudden cloudiness. Blinking as the dust cleared, I saw he was nowhere in sight. I got up awkwardly and dusted myself off, cursing under my breath.

"No fair, you big dummy. No running away…" I mumbled.

Well, I have to say it was a lot nicer him running than him hitting me. But still…I sorta almost had him maybe not really.

I sighed. Okay, so a direct attack wasn't going to work…but, honestly, what else was there I could do? It's not like I could outsmart him or anything…

Scratching my head, I licked my bottom lip and looked around.

And he lunged forward, sword in hand.

I panicked, jumped back, and dispersed a kunai in front of my face in an attempt to hold the large object away from my body. He hadn't swung with nearly any of his strength, so deflecting it wasn't as hard as it normally would have been. My hands shook awkwardly as I struggled to repress the force of his sword. He grinned at me, that snarkish grin.

"Who says I was running away?" he asked.

My mouth was gaping a little, I was breathing hard from the excess movement.

"Y…you dummy, you're not going to make this easy for me, are you?" I wheezed.

"Where would the fun in that be?" he asked. I grit my teeth and scowled at him.

"This isn't some stupid game, stupid!" I spat, sounding rather childlike.

He put more pressure on his blade, it came dangerously closer to me. I pulled another kunai out and placed it diagonally against my first, creating a x-shaped barrier.

"What's the matter? Sore loser?" He teased.

This guy was totally confusing. One minute he's all mushy-gushy, and the next he's playing with me like I'm some piece of meat. I swear, once I get the chance I'm going to clonk his big blue fat head…

"How's it fun for you, anyway? I'm at a disadvantage! Exceedingly!" I squeaked, struggling with his blade.

He stared at me, blinking slowly, and tilted his head in consideration. After a moment, he straitened his neck and released another sharky grin.

"Because it's cute when you try really hard," he said.

Unexpected response, I suddenly sported a bright red color in my cheeks. I think…I think that was the first time in his life Kisame had ever used the word "cute". At the same time, I think it was the first in mine I had ever been called that.

My hands faltered nervously, and my kunai slipped. The sword came down, and I just barely made it out of the way and onto the dirt again. I scrambled to my feet and back into battle posture. He stood there, straightened, and lifted his sword up. He was facing me and he swung it around and let it rest on his shoulder.

"N-not funny," I said.

He smiled, and stared.

"Y-you shouldn't be so calm, Ki-Kisame," I said, trying hard and failing at hiding my unnerved composition. He seemed amused.

"You get flustered too easily," he said.

I ignored him and lifted my kunai. Biting my bottom lip, I began realizing more and more how impossible this was going to be. He was smug as ever.

"Well, go on." he teased. "Try to attack me,"

My face heated with anger.

"I would, but you're just going to block me again." He faked a frown.

"Giving up?" he asked.

"No!" I snapped.

"Good," he grinned. "Glad to see you're so determined."

"With the way you're acting," I mumbled to myself, "It's a mystery why I'm even bothering with you at all…"

He somehow must have heard me, he grinned, looking peculiarly quirky. "Because you love me so much," he teased.

"You're a butthead!" I snapped quickly.

"Is that your pet name for me?" he said curiously, obviously enjoying himself.

My teeth grinded. Okay, now I was getting _really _mad.

"Quit making fun of me!" I yelled. I exhaled sharply. After a moment, my muscles loosened and my tenseness left. My lower lip stuck out slightly.

"If running away with me is so dang horrible," I snorted. "Then you should just tell me I'm wasting my time."

His smile fell. "I never said that,"

"You're acting like it!" I snapped back.

He snorted and shot his gaze in another direction, avoiding my eyes.

"I…" I started, my voice trembling slightly from frustration. "I was being serious when I said that," I said. _That _referring to my previous confession. "You're the one who…responded that way. If it was just a stupid joke, you need to tell me now," There was a little bit of wetness gathering in the corner of my eyes.

He was quiet. Very…eerily quiet. His eyes trailed back up to mine, but only for a second. The next moment, they darted away, as if looking at me was a straining. I bit my lower lip before sheepishly beginning to speak again.

"Because if…if you were just screwing around," I took a deep breath. "Then if by some miracle I do get the scroll from you, you can guarantee leaving with you Isn't going to happen." My words hung in the air.

In my musings over this man, I've come to discover a tangle of most curious and unusual feelings. I would be willing to run away, but he had to come forth with this challenge. A challenge we both knew I could not win. Perhaps, even if I could win, it would not be worth my efforts.

Yes, I would still get the scroll, or die trying. Would I leave with him? …No, I don't think so. Did I want to? Yes….yes, I did. But perhaps his toying with me was a sign, perhaps my obligations to the Leaf were far more important than my sentiments. So, I suppose I would just have to end it there….

It would be the bolder thing to do.

I opened my mouth again,

"Sadako-chan!"

I turned.

Oh bollocks. It was Gai.

_-to be continued in the next installment-_


	25. Taking Action

**Author's Note:** Hello, and welcome to the ridiculously prolonged continuation to the "Butchery & Happiness" fanfiction that has been long neglected. I'm not going to clutter up this section of the fic to explain my absence, you'll have to take a look at my profile for more information on exactly why I wasn't around. In any case, if anyone actually reads this, I'm flattered you still care enough to finish this story after it being dead for so long. I haven't written awhile, and honestly my style has changed quite a bit, but nevertheless I hope you find some enjoyment in the conclusion of this tale. A little note about this though: I do not watch or read Naruto anymore. I don't remember much from the series, and quite frankly I don't have the patience to try to make this as accurate as possible. Just try to read it with an open mind and forgive me for any technical errors there may be. So, without any further delay, let's get this show on the road...

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I felt as if all the air had been kicked out of my chest. I stared, baffled, as the green-clad warrior from the leaf jumped and landed with incomparable grace a few feet beside me. I took a awkward side-step away, watching him with large, round eyes. His landing was perfect, he stood with the dust clouding his feet in a practically textbook martial arts pose, a determined gleam in his eyes.

"Are you all right, Sadako-chan?" Gai asked, his voice a booming ray of confidence. "Has he hurt you?"

I didn't know how to respond right away. My mouth was dry and quite frankly I was at a loss for words. Kisame seemed to be in the same boat because he stood in silence, his fists still held his weapon and the scroll.

When I didn't reply right away, Gai cocked his head and flashed me a concerned glance. Instantly I felt some words bubble up and I sputtered stupidly, "No, no...no...uh...it's cool." I lifted a hand and pointed to Kisame. "He's got the scroll,"

I know that in the past I've been really good at pointing out the obvious, and this still hold true today. However, while Gai may be creepy, one thing I appreciate about him is the fact that he rarely makes me feel stupid. I think it's because he's rather oblivious of anything mildly uncomfortable.

His thick brows arched and his teeth shone in a blinding brilliance as he grinned at me. "Good work, Sadako-chan," while being praised is always a nice thing, I didn't particularly feel too keen on the situation in general, so I just nodded.

Kisame seemed annoyed. I could tell by the way his dead fish eyes narrowed and directed a glare at the new arrival.

"Excuse me, I believe you're interrupting." he said calmly, though there was an unmistakable tone of malice in his voice.

"This is an unfair fight," Gai said calmly, raising his arm in a dramatic motion. I could tell he was getting ready to attack. I frowned and felt my shoulders slump.

"Since when is one-on-one unfair?" Kisame snorted. I could see the sharpness of his teeth when he spoke. "Get lost, this is a private party."

I couldn't help but notice that this seemed...rather unusual for Kisame. He was acting angry. well, angrier than usual. Sure, he was snarky and violent and uppity normally, but there was something in the way he spoke that indicated another emotion I couldn't quite place.

Gai had been talking. He spouted off a string of dialog about honour and fighting an opponent obviously less skilled than you (thanks a lot, Gai,) and all that stuff. Kisame seemed less than amused, but it was Gai's next sentence that seemed to really piss him off. Gai turned and flashed his signature smile at me, lifting his hand in a thumbs up motion.

"It's all right, Sadako-chan, I'll protect you from him!"

I cocked my head. Um, all right. I couldn't help but feel slightly flattered. Even though Gai tended to be slightly...odd, he has some rather charismatic charms in the way he spoke. It was rather endearing.

"You should go get the others for back up, I can hold him off."

"Now just a minute!" Kisame roared. The sudden loudness in his voice caused me to physically jump. Kisame, obviously incredibly angry by now, lifted his weapon and held it outward. "You stay where you are, Shorty. This is between me and you, tell your bowlcut buddy to get lost."

I couldn't help but furrow my brows at that. What was causing Kisame to act so...well..._childish_? Maybe some of me rubbed off on him during our escapades when he captured me. And what's with this Shorty stuff again? I thought we had finally graduated beyond that nonsense. Though to be honest, it felt a little more in character for him to refer to me as that rather than Sadako...but, nonetheless, it was incredibly unromantic.

Not that he was a romantic dude to begin with. I lifted my hands and looked at him indignantly. Before I could say anything, however, Gai opened his big, dental-advertisement worthy mouth,

"I don't think so, your transgressions are against all of Konoha." he said. I was just pondering what the word _transgressions _meant when Kisame was upon us, sword readied.

I didn't see it coming. Though it was obvious he was aiming more towards Gai, my colleague grabbed me and yanked me out of harms way. We landing with acute precision a few feet backwards, Gai's arm on my shoulder. I felt dizzy from having been jerked away so quickly, so the scenery around me seemed blurry.

Kisame didn't give us any time to recover. Like lightning, he dashed forward. This time I managed to fall back on my own, Gai held his ground. Lifting his hands he caught the sword in clapping motion. I stared in awe. He was holding the weapon off of him with his bare hands...now _that _was impressive.

I could see he was struggling slightly by the way his wrists shook, but the grin he continued to wear could have fooled anyone. Kisame on the other hand seemed enraged still, until I saw a peculiar glint in his eyes.

Things happened rather suddenly. I heard Gai cry out sharply in pain, flinging the sword back towards its wielder and jumping back. Blood smeared his palms, and I saw that Kisame's sword had sprouted several sharp spines.

"Gai!" I called out, clumsily scrambling to my feet and dashing towards him.

What a dirty player! I when I was a few feet beside the injured Gai. He shrugged it off and insisted he was fine, it just had caught him off guard. This was going to escalate quickly. Ough. I frowned and examined Gai's palms from where I stood, feeling guilty this was my fault he got involved.

Kisame's weapon rose and he pointed it at Gai. "What's wrong, Jolly Green Giant? That was a rather dangerous way to defend yourself," he snickered, amused by all of this.

I frowned. What a sadist. I opened my mouth to say something, but Gai darted forward and advanced upon Kisame without warning. The two exchanged attacks, which I could barely make out. They both were insanely fast.

I stood there awkwardly, feeling ignored.

Well...

...hmm...

Not knowing what else to do, but not wanting to leave the two here by themselves, I crossed my arms and rubbed my shoulders.

In a few brief moments I could see the two exchanging blows. Gai wore his confident yet typical determined face throughout the fight, looking gallant even when Kisame had him on his toes. Kisame on the other hand, fluctuated between angry leers and sadistic grins. I couldn't tell if he was really enjoying this or if he was still pissed off that Gai had interrupted our fight.

Well, if you could even _call _it a fight. Watching a pro like Gai fight an expert like Kisame kind of reminded me of my own suckiness. Gai seemed to be holding his own quite well, adapting to all of Kisame's attacks and learning the way he moved.

It almost made me think perhaps _Gai _should be the one stealing the scroll in order to elope with Kisame.

I couldn't help but snort at that. Okay, in all seriousness though, he was holding up far better than I was. Kisame seemed to be struggling almost. He was holding his massive feminine product resembling sword with both of his hands now.

And that's when it occurred to me.

I glanced over and saw the scroll, leaning invitingly against a tree. Kisame must have put it down in all the action in order to fight better.

It called to me.

_Hey, hey! Yeah, Sadako! Right over here! this is your chance, come and get me!_

I glanced over at Kisame, who was doing a right good job of ignoring me. I felt a grin spread on my lips. I couldn't believe my luck!

Carefully I walked over to the scroll, looking over my shoulder once in awhile to see if Kisame saw me. He was completely engrossed in the fight. Figures.

In a way it was a little insulting. I guess he just thought Gai was more of a concern at the moment. And, yeah, well...that was kind of true, but still. A few minutes ago we were engaged in a pretty serious conversation, and now he was pretty focused on his new found vendetta against Gai. It was as if I wasn't even there any more.

I approached the scroll and turned away from the fight long enough to pick it up and lug it over my shoulder. Something about it didn't seem right though. It was almost as if I were cheating.

Hey, now! Kisame never said you couldn't enlist the help of others! Grab that shit and run for the hills!

Now, now, Sadako, you should stay and help Gai.

He seems to be getting along well enough on his own, though.

You can't just leave those two, they'll kill each other!

Maybe that's for the best. It'd solve a few of your problems for you.

I snorted and pushed my shoulder angels away, not wanting to be pestered by them anymore. Why is it I couldn't just this once make a decision and be sure about it? Why did I always have to second-guess myself? Man, I suck...

"Sadako-chan, turn around!"

As soon as the warning hit my ears, I felt myself being lifted violently off the ground and hoisted over the broadness of Kisame's shoulder. The scroll fell, hitting me in the face, and hung limply against Kisame's back along with me. I cried out in surprise.

"Ack!"

I wiggled and Kisame shifted drastically, causing me to fall over and hit the ground with my face. I cried out again and scrambled to get on my feet, but Kisame grabbed me rather forcefully by the neck of my vest and pushed me against his chest.

"W-what a..." I sputtered, but I instantly fell silent when I felt the edge of the spine covered sword against my throat. My back stiffened and I felt myself grow paler.

"If you move, I'm going to slit her throat." Kisame hissed, and there was a genuine venom in his voice. I grew stiff and clammy instantly.

Oh, my God..._was he serious_! He sure sounded convincing.

Gai, who was looking almost as startled as I was, stopped mid motion and narrowed his eyes.

Kisame had slung the scroll over his back securely. He was gripping me tight enough to cause rivets of pain flow through my arm.

Panicking, I jolted my head and tried to look Kisame in the eye.

"Let me _go_, you big blue butthe-!"

"Shut up!" he roared.

I shut up.

Maybe it was just because he wanted to keep appearances up with Gai, but Kisame gripped my arm harder and I felt his nails dig into my reddened skin. I squeaked in pain.

"That hurts...!" I whined, but my voice was low and I doubt he heard me. If he did, he didn't acknowledge it. There was a severity in the way Kisame spoke and held himself that made me feel genuinely afraid.

He laughed darkly and Gai grit his teeth. I could see a bead of sweat fall from his brow.

"Let her go, she can't defend herself! That's dirty play." Gai said.

If I wasn't in so much pain, I would have sighed in exasperation. Yes, I get it, I'm generally useless. I know you're trying to help, Gai, but why do you have to keep bringing that up?

"Get lost," Kisame hissed, not loosening his grip in the slightest. He leant over slightly, towering over me. It wasn't until now that I realized exactly how large this man was. He was massive, practically heads taller than myself. It all made me feel rather small and insignificant.

"Taking hostages when you're losing a fight?" Gai taunted. It seemed a little uncharacteristic of him to say it in the tone he did, but at the same time I could tell he was simply trying to get Kisame to let go of me.

Kisame narrowed his eyes and pressed the weapon closer against my skin. "I said leave," he said. I could feel his chest against the back of my head. He was hot and breathing slightly quickly from the fight. I could almost make out his heartbeat. "Or I'm going to skin her right here,"

"I'm not leaving Sadako-chan here with a brute like you," Gai retorted, the confidence in his voice seemed a little forced now.

Kisame cocked his head and grinned eerily. He laughed under his breath, which sounded incredibly creepy. Shifting in a fluid yet speedy motion, he gripped me harshly around the waist and turned my body so I was facing him. Well, facing his chest. I let out a weird protesting noise, feeling smothered, and tried to wriggle away.

What the hell was he doing? I couldn't see much more than the black of Kisame's cloak because of how tightly he held me. His fingers dug into my lower back and hip. Though the sword was no long pressed against my skin, I could feel that he was still holding it close to me.

"Let her go!" Gai blurted.

"No...no, I don't think I will." Kisame smirked. I felt his hand rub my back slightly, and my face turned beet red.

"Watch what you're touching!" I snapped, but the words seemed to turn into a muffled groaning noise against Kisame's chest.

Gai started to speak again, but he was interrupted by Kisame.

"Listen, I would love to stay and play with you, but like I said me and Shorty here have a previous _engagement_."

"Agreement, not engagement, you idiot!" I said to the fabric of Kisame's chest, I grabbed at the cloth and attempted to push away, needing air. Kisame held fast and I could do little more than shift to look over my shoulder.

Gai held his ground, though by the stance he took it looked as if he were contemplating an attack.

How did I get into this situation? What did I do to deserve this? I sighed audibly.

"I'm not leaving, I think I've already established that." Gai said sternly, a fire in his voice.

"We were having a rather intimate moment before you came and interrupted us," Kisame said coldly.

Oh, my God...did he really just say that? I felt like I could die right there. Yep, just crawl into a tiny little hole and die. I would decay and turn into dirt, and then I could live my next life giving nutrients to grass. At least then I would be useful.

"You-!" Gai didn't seem to know how to end his sentence, because it cut off right then. I was mortified, and I began praying Kisame would keep his mouth shut and not say anything else so ungodly embarassing.

He didn't.

He did something far worse.

I like attention. I really do. It's nice to be needed and looked at sometimes. There are, however, times and places in which to draw attention to yourself. And right now, I would have given anything to have been overlooked at that moment.

I didn't realize what had happened until Kisame bent over and pushed his lips-rather forcefully I might add-against mine. My eyes shot wide, my head spun. The situation didn't really sink in until it was over and Kisame was glancing back with a confident smirk at Gai, who had the most disturbed expression on his face. He chuckled in a creepy way and spoke,

"Heh, so if you don't mi-"

What happened next was too fast to comprehend. Gai darted forward and hit Kisame square on the nose. Kisame jerked backwards, skidding and balancing himself a few feet away. I fell forward and landed on the pads of my hands, my knees digging into the earth. Gai stood between me and Kisame.

"I can't believe someone, even as illicit as you, would prey on someone like Sadako-chan," Gai said, his voice stern. I felt my stomach drop. "You may be part of an _organization_, but you sir are no gentleman." You could tell my the tone in his voice that Gai used the term _organization _lightly.

Why the hell had Kisame picked a time like this to do something like that!

Kisame was on his feet, rubbing the blood from his lip silently. His glare was focused on Gai, but for a split second I could see he flashed his glance at me. I couldn't help but feel like he was directing _hatred _along with it. It made me feel queasy and nervous.

With no words, Kisame shook his head and lifted his hand, making a signal with his fingers. Gai tensed and prepared to defend himself, but there was no point.

In a puff of white smoke, Kisame vanished.

I felt cold.

When the smoked cleared from the air, Gai hesitated before relaxing and reaching over to help me up. I accepted it and got to my feet, brushing myself off.

"Are you all right?" Gai asked, his voice thick with concern.

No, I wasn't.

"Yeah..." I said weakly. "That was just bizarre."

Gai reached over and put a hand on my shoulder. I didn't slouch away, I just looked at the dirt. I feel like I have a lot in common with dirt. It just stays there, minding its own business, doing its job. People just tend to tramp all over it and move it and push it around. Dirt never bothered anyone, but people like to mess with dirt all the time. Poor thing.

"You shouldn't be going off by yourself, Sadako-chan..." Gai said gently. I looked up at him. I wanted to protest because frankly I was sick of being treated like I was useless...but, to be fair, he was really right. I _was _useless. Why did I even volunteer to go on this stupid mission? It was obvious I would have been better off staying home. I wasn't going to be any help getting the scroll back, and Kisame seemed more interested in playing around with my teammates than humouring my romantic fantasies.

Well, what did you expect, Sadako? He's a bloody criminal! Of course he's going to choose beating people up over going out to the movies with a girl.

I groaned audibly and shook my head. Quite suddenly, Gai pulled me into a rather awkward embrace. I tenses, but the hug only lasted a few moments before he pulled away and patted my hair.

"Let's report back and let the others know the Akatsuki are in the area. Stay close to me,"

I nodded dumbly and began to follow Gai as he headed back to camp. I couldn't help but feel the heavy unanswered questions in the air. Not just my own, but the ones Gai probably had as well. Luckily enough, he didn't seem talkative on the way back.

I really don't know how I would have responded to anything he asked, anyway.

_-to be continued in the next installment-_


	26. Reflection

**Author's Note:** Nothing much to say here. This was hard to write since I'm so unfamiliar with these characters now. I had a lot of trouble with Gai in the last chapter if you couldn't tell. I think it's coming back to me, though. Little by little. Also I'd like to add, I lost ALL my notes for this story years ago, so whatever I had planned for it has been lost as well. I'm reinventing things as I go, so here's hoping I can make it work.I do remember bits and pieces, re-reading the story helped me recall a few things...just, unfortunately, not the ending! This chapter doesn't really have any romance, I kind of wanted to use it for some character development.

* * *

When I returned, I didn't say anything. Gai told the others about the situation, and thankfully he left the parts they didn't need to know out of it. A handful of them took off in search of Kisame. Naturally, I stayed behind. I didn't feel like going about and being ninja-y at the moment.

To my surprise, Gai stayed behind too. I would have guessed he would have wanted to help track Kisame down and beat him up some more, but I think he just didn't want me to be left alone. Technically I wouldn't have been left alone since three others stayed behind and were preparing some sort of battle strategies, but they seemed engrossed in their own business and I knew nothing about that sort of stuff.

I slumped off, away from the camp but not far enough to get myself into trouble again.

There was a clearing close to the one we were set up in, filled with large knotted trees and short grass. It looked like a good place to cool my head and contemplate all the nonsense that was swirling in my mind, so I propped myself up on a low branch and sat.

Yes, I know, I should have been off doing something productive to help the others, but in reality what could I do? Really, there wasn't anything I had to offer them at the moment. To be honest, I was really beginning to mull over the idea of just going home.

Giving up? Me? Nooo...

I sighed and started picking at the bark on the tree. It was after a few moments of silence that I heard someone approaching. I didn't look down, but I knew who it was.

Gai stood under the tree, looking up. I didn't look down, but I could tell he had the same concerned look plastered on his face that he had had earlier.

"Sadako-chan..." he said gently. I sighed, wanting him to go away. I know it was mean, but really I just couldn't deal with talking to someone right now. Especially if that someone had just recently seen me be kissed by a seven foot talking shark.

Shaking the embarrassment away, I tried to sound indifferent in my reply.

"Yeah? What's up?" I asked, not taking my eyes off of the bark.

"Are you all right? Wandering off by yourself probably isn't safe."

I felt a twinge of anger grow in my chest. I knew he was right, but I couldn't help but hate the fact that he was. It only seemed to remind me of my own incompetence.

"I'm okay. It's not far. Yelling distance." I insisted, picking off a bit of grayish moss from the branch. It didn't seem to convince Gai, but he didn't press the matter.

He did, however, steer the conversation in a direction I did not want it to go.

"What happened earlier, during that fight..." he started, trailing off. For once, he sounded unsure of how to word his sentence.

"It's whatever." I said lamely, wanting him to drop it. I flicked a piece of moss on the ground beside him.

He paused, and the silence was almost tantalizing. Ough, why wouldn't he just leave?

I felt guilty almost immediately after thinking that. Gai was only being a friend. He was trying to help me, and all I could think about was how I wanted him to get lost.

Really, Sadako, that's horrible.

I sighed.

"Sadako-chan, can I come up there and speak with you?" he asked gently.

I was about to say no, but something stopped me and I fell still. Shrugging, I mumbled, "...Sure,"

I was quiet while Gai made the climb in one third the amount of time it took me to get up on the branch. He sat a few feet away, his legs propped comfortably against the edge. I shifted and leaned against the trunk of the tree.

"What's up?" I asked, reaching up and tucking a thick strand of my hair behind my ear. It was just then I noticed that it had seemed to get significantly lighter. It was probably from all the sun I had been getting these past few weeks. I needed to get it cut, too. It was uneven and scraggly at the edges, and I wasn't used to the feeling of it brushing against my neck.

Gai faced forward, looking out into the clearing in a contemplative silence.

"What had happened before I got there to help you?" Gai asked, sounding as if he were choosing each of his words carefully.

I cocked my head. "Um..." I said. I really didn't want to say. Well, could you blame me? What was I going to tell him? I made an agreement to get the bad guy to elope with me? Yeah, totally. "...nothing," I finally said, though even I could tell I sounded unsure of myself.

Gai turned to look at me, and there was a sincerity in his expression that caused my chest to swell. Sure, this guy was weird, but I could really start to see that he cared about his friends. It almost made me feel guilty for all the times I made fun of his haircut. Almost.

"Sadako-chan, I'm only asking because..." he trailed off, and I could feel the awkwardness hang thick in the air. He cleared his throat. "...the way he spoke suggested...and the way he _handled_...I'm just trying to ask if he did anything before..."

I didn't really quite get what he was implying at first, but the more he rambled I quickly caught on. Blushing furiously, I rose my hands and waved them in a frantic motion.

"What? No! No, he didn't do anything like that!" I sputtered.

Almost instantly, I saw relief cross his eyes and Gai let out a long breath.

"Sorry, I was just concerned about you." he said, and I could tell he was quickly reverting back to the overly enthusiastic and cheerful Gai I was used to. I have to say, as annoying as he could be, I preferred him this way.

Come to think of it, it seemed only like yesterday I was speaking to him outside the Mission Dispersion Office. He had come up to me excited about something. I lifted my legs and rested my arms across them, getting comfortable. At this point I was looking for any reason to change the subject, to I piped up,

"Hey, Gai," I said. He looked over at me to signify he was listening. "Before I left on that mistaken assignment...you seemed like you wanted to tell me something,"

Gai looked like he didn't know what I was talking about for a moment before realization snapped and he nodded. "Oh, yes. You were busy."

I nodded weakly but had to ask, "You never did tell me what it was you wanted, you kind of just walked off," Why I was suddenly so interested I really don't know, but I had to admit it was really nice sharing a calm conversation with someone where I wasn't thinking about Kisame.

"Oh," Gai said, slightly adjusting his posture. "I wanted to invite you for a sparring session,"

I frowned and shifted. "Oh." I said lamely.

That was a little anticlimactic.

He continued.

"I had heard you still haven't been accepted to lead a three man team," he turned and looked out at the clearing again. "I thought that if you had someone to practice with, you could hone your skills and maybe re-apply."

I looked up at him. Suddenly, an overwhelming sense of appreciation overcame me and I didn't know how to respond to him. It wasn't until that moment I realized a few things.

Here was Gai. A little older than me. I had always just mocked his way of dressing or his bizarre way of speaking from afar. But in reality, he had so much _more _than I did. He was a hard worker, whereas I rarely did more than I needed to get by. He looked after others, even me, despite all the times I had thought negatively of him and brushed him off. And here he was, thinking about ways to help me obtain a position I had wanted for such a long time.

It was almost enough to make me go teary eyed. I felt like such a jerk.

"That's...that's really nice of you," I said, not really knowing what else to say.

Gai grinned and I couldn't help but smile back.

"Yeah, actually...I think I'd like that." I shifted and tucked the same strand of hair back behind my ears after it fell loose again. "I could really use the practice...as you probably could have guessed from before."

"Well, you do have your work cut out for you..." Gai said.

I shot a look at him. It was only when I saw his expression that I realized he was poking fun at me the way two friends do.

It kind of reminded me how Kisame and I picked on one another.

I shook those thoughts out of my head. "Well, I like challenges." I said. I really don't know why I said that, because frankly it wasn't true. I hated challenges, they only served as reminders of how bad I was at something. However, something inside me felt oddly..._confident_.

It was a really foreign feeling.

Gai beamed and rose his fist dramatically. "Excellent! That's the spirit!"

Under normal circumstances I would have shied away from such a boisterous action, but I was beginning to appreciate Gai's quirks. Maybe his optimism was beginning to rub off on me. I can't say I disliked it.

Wow, confident and optimistic?

Am I really the same Ai Sadako who was stuck as a delivery girl and staring at posters of busty women enviously while complaining about how much her life sucked?

"Sadako-chan," Gai continued. "Perhaps we should head back?"

I hesitated and played with the strand of hair that was absolutely refusing to stay where I kept putting it. "I dunno..." I said lamely. "I don't really wanna see everyone right now." I admitted. Gai shook his head.

"No...I meant, back to Konoha."

I cocked my head. I know I had been giving the idea some serious thought, but why would Gai bring it up?

"We?" I asked. "Why would you go back? They need you here. You were really kicking butt earlier."

Gai seemed to beam at the compliment but didn't allow it to deter him from what he was originally saying. "I wouldn't let you head back on your own. I would escort you. If they needed me, I would return after you were back safely."

I sighed and shook my head. "Really, that's too much trouble." I lowered my gaze. "It's be better if I just stayed and kept out of the other's way. I mean, really, they're probably off having some epic battle right now." I shrugged.

"It'd be harder to watch you if we were all distracted by fighting," Gai said simply. I rolled my eyes and looked away.

"I don't need to be watched. I mean, you saw earlier. If I stay out of the way and don't get involved, bad guys tend to ignore me."

Gai's smile softened oddly and he gave me a slightly skeptical look. "Yes, but from what I can tell, you were engaged in a fight before I came to your rescue, yes?"

I blushed and shook my head. "I guess, but..."

"I think that he's going to single you out if he can, Sadako-chan." Gai replied before I could think of what to say. I blushed harder under his gaze, and I got the feeling that he was making several assessments about what was going on between Kisame and me.

"Naw," I said, waving him off. I sounded about as convincing as an 8 year old explaining to their mother that it wasn't them who broke her prized vase. Gai shook his head and furrowed his big bushy eyebrows.

"I'm serious, it's not safe..."

I shrugged, not knowing how to reply to that.

It was quiet for a moment before Gai sighed audibly and slid off of the branch, landing on his feet with catlike grace. He looked up at me from the ground.

"I'm going to head back to the camp, but please think about my offer to take you home." he said, smiling with that concerned expression he seemed so fond of recently. "Don't wander, either...I don't like you sitting out here on your own for too long. I'll be close by if you need me..."

I waved stupidly and nodded. "Yeah, thanks..." I forced a smile and Gai waved back before heading back to camp.

I groaned and leaned back, hitting my head against the bark.

"Ow."

My head throbbed, I rubbed it agitatedly. Sighing, I shifted my position and sat up more, swinging my legs over the side of the branch.

Now what? Should I take up on that offer and leave? Somehow that just seemed like quitting, though.

Nothing new for you, then, Sadako.

Oh, shut up, I'm not dealing with you anymore.

I ignored my inner onslaught of downers and jumped from the branch of the tree, landing inelegantly on one knee and causing a small cloud of dust to rise up into my face. Coughing, I brushed myself off and stood.

"Have a good time chatting with your new boyfriend?"

I jerked my head immediately behind me and saw Kisame, arms crossed, leaning against the very tree I had been sitting in.

_-to be continued in the next installment-_


	27. Argument

**Author's Note:** Wow, you guys don't know how happy I am to have gotten those kind reviews. The fact that there are still people out there who care about this thing really revs me up for some writing! Your support is amazing, it really urges me onward. To be honest, I'm starting to get all sentimental about it all...kind of makes me feel silly, haha. This chapter is kind of shaky, forgive me for that, but I do have a reason for it, I promise!

* * *

I stared dumbly at the man leaning against the tree. Why was he here? Was he stupid or something? There were four others, all of which were likely equally matched or even stronger than him, within shouting distance.

If he was aware of this, he obviously didn't care. He kept staring at me with that perplexing expression I couldn't quite read.

"Kisame," I finally said, not bothering to shield the exasperated demeanor in my voice. What are you doing here?" I shook my head and rubbed my temples in vexation. I suddenly felt very tired and not wanting to deal with this sort of thing.

"Just stopping by. You didn't miss me?" he asked, though there was no playfulness in his voice. He sounded _annoyed_.

I frowned and looked at him accusingly. "Hey," I started, speaking the same instant the thoughts occurred to me, "I got that stupid scroll. I was about to make off with it, too, so really I won your stupid bet. You never said I had to _keep _it in my possession."

Kisame laughed coldly and shook his head. "No way, that doesn't count." I sighed and felt my shoulders slump. I thought he would have said as much. I was about to reply but he quickly added, "Besides, you were helped. That automatically disqualifies you."

No it was my turn to get annoyed. "So basically you're setting me up for failure! God, you're such a _jerk_!" I shook my head and folded my arms over. I was beginning to wonder why I bothered with this guy in the first place, he didn't seem to do much more than pick on me or make my life difficult.

And kiss me in front of my coworkers.

I turned red at the recollection. I suddenly felt hesitant about the whole situation. I wanted to bring it up, ask him what his deal was, because from my perspective it felt as if he had simply done that to put on a traditional bad-guy show in front of Gai. But why would he do that? It wasn't like it would prove anything...other than he was a jerk.

"Well, what about you, Sadako?" Kisame retorted. I looked up and cocked my head. Oh, so now it's Sadako again? To be honest, at this point, I wasn't sure which one I preferred. Kisame continued, and that same unmistakable tone of malice was present again. "Would your little old heart really be that crushed if I decided to say I have no intention of leaving anywhere with you?"

Now that was just offensive. What was that even supposed to mean? I frowned.

"What?" I asked sharply.

Kisame rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Really, I'm not going to play that game with you."

Now he was getting on my last nerve. What was he talking about? I couldn't read him at all, the guy was like a walking contradiction. One minute he was codling and holding me, the other he was spewing off some sarcastic nonsense. Angry, I opened my mouth to shout at him but he cut me off.

"Don't yell. We're close enough to your camp the others will hear. I really don't want any more people coming in and beating me up for talking to you."

"Really, Kisame, you're worried about something like that? I have a right mind to yell for help, actually, because you're making no bloody sense. Tell me what it is you're trying to say."

Kisame was quiet a moment, his eyes averting mine in a contemplative manner. He was still, and I was equally still. I could hear my heartbeat, which had sped up considerably. I actually felt myself getting cold sweat on the back of my neck.

When he finally did speak, I let go of the breath I had been subconsciously holding.

"Sadako, I don't fight over women." he said. "It's pointless."

I remained silent, the words sinking in.

Um...

...okay...

...what?

When I continued to stare stupidly at him, Kisame cleared his throat. I could see he was feeling a little awkward after saying that. He looked as if he were waiting for me to reply. Finally, I said.

"Kisame, what are you talking about?"

Really, what _was _he talking about?

He looked angry. "It's just as I said. I don't fight over women. If you're indecisive over who you'd rather be with, that's your own problem."

I furrowed my brow in confusion until it finally hit me.

Was Kisame...

...noo...

..._was _he?

"...you're jealous," I said simply.

That seemed to unnerve him. "No," he said flatly, frowning at me hard.

I couldn't help it, I grinned.

"You are." I said, a sudden elation growing in my chest. "You totally are! Kisame, you're jealous!" In spite of myself, I laughed shortly. Really, that was just...well, adorable. I know using the word "adorable" as a adjective describing someone like Kisame sounds weird, but frankly I wouldn't know what else to call it.

He didn't seem to like my reaction. He was still angry. "Well, so what if I were? Do I have a reason not to be?"

The response surprised me, really. I was beginning to understand why he had been so angry recently. It was...well, it was kind of flattering really. Though it did make me feel a little bad for him.

I sighed and smiled softly. "Kisame..." I said, taking a step towards him. "No, you don't have any reason to be..."

I halted when his reaction was harsher than I expected.

"Really, think about this." he said sharply. "You don't know anything about me. I don't know anything about you. It's idiotic."

Whoa, where did that come from?

I stared blankly, trying to let the words sink in. What was he saying?

"Kisame..." I said gently. He cut me off.

"No, really..." he said, his voice was calm but stern. "You can't expect me to drop everything and run off with some woman."

Some woman.

_Some woman!_

What was all this about? Since when was I demoted to "Some Woman"? My ears burned. For a brief moment I thought this was just another joke to him. He was always saying cruel things to pick on me, but this...

What _was _this?

I don't know when the wetness started to form in my eyes, but I noticed that my vision blurred considerably. By now my fists were clenched tightly, my knuckles turned white. I felt my lower lip tremble, and for a moment I was terrified I was going to start bawling.

Kisame stared at me coldly and unfaltering. I shook my head angrily.

"I...I may not know much about you," I said, trying to sounds calm. "I know I want to learn. Isn't that enough proof that I care?" My voice sounded pathetic so I swallowed hard and tried to sound indifferent. "But...hey, it's whatever."

Kisame didn't even flinch. He kept staring at me.

I don't understand. Why was he having such a sudden change in demeanor? Why was he bringing all this up now? It's not like he couldn't have done this before I went through all the effort of confessing to him and trying to steal that stupid scroll.

And, hey, he's the one who kissed me first!

_ This is all his fault!_

I felt the wetness roll down my cheeks and I knew that I was crying. This didn't seem to faze him. Really, I didn't know what to say. I just knew I didn't want to hear him say anything else. He opened his mouth to speak, but I cut him off harshly.

"J-just go, then. Get out of here." I sputtered, feeling myself progressively grow more emotional.

Kisame didn't move, he looked as if he were trying to word his sentences carefully and keep them premeditated. I didn't care. I didn't want to hear whatever he was going to say.

"Get going, or I'm going to yell for help!" I threatened. "Get out of my face!"

_I hate you!_

The words formed distinctively in my head, but I couldn't bring myself to say them.

When Kisame didn't move, I walked forward and pushed passed him. If he wasn't going to leave, I was. I couldn't stand there and deal with this right now.

As I walked away I kept hoping he would stop me. I kept hoping he would say something, anything. I kept hoping he would put his hand on his shoulder and say "Just kidding," or "God, you thought I was serious? You're so stupid..."

He didn't, though, and by the time I got back to camp I was still crying.

Nobody pressed the issue when I told them I had fallen from the tree and hurt my still injured rib when I was questioned about my teary face. It was a believable enough story, and in my case I'm surprised there hadn't been a degree of truth to it. I did a little stretching and pacing to try to calm myself down, which probably looked weird to the others but they didn't seem to be paying much attention.

No one else had returned, so I could only guess they were either hot on the trail of the baddies or in the midst of fighting them. Or worse.

By now the ones who had stayed behind were getting antsy and contemplating advancing in order to locate our comrades and, if needed, rescue them. I didn't want to think about it because it made me nervous. Toshiyo wouldn't have gone and gotten himself kidnapped or killed, would he? Neither would Kurenai...

The five of us stood in a close circle and tried to decide what to do. Well, the four of them decided what to do. I kind of just stood there and listened.

It was during this time Gai brought up the possibility of taking me home, using my semi-feigned injury as an excuse.

I can't say I hated the idea of leaving. Honestly I felt as if I had no real reason of staying anymore. I just shrugged when they brought it up.

They had made a decision pretty quickly about what they were going to do. We were going after the rest of the group, possibly right into an attack, but at the moment it seemed like the only option. The others were gone for far too long, if we didn't act soon they would probably wind up dead.

I swallowed and paled.

The others made some final orders, and I jumped when I felt Gai's hand rest on my shoulder.

"Sadako," he said. It was incredibly weird to hear him say my name without the "chan" honorific at the end. I looked at him and cocked my head. "It's your decision, do you want me to take you back to Konoha?"

I thought about it.

Really, it made sense.

What was the point of me staying here now? I could just go home. Forget about Kisame and the stupid scroll and this stupid episode and this stupid brief flighty romance bullcrap. I could just go back to delivering scrolls for Iruka and baking chocolate for myself.

That seemed pleasant enough.

But I knew I couldn't do that.

I was silent for a moment before I looked up at him, raising my fist in a cheesy thumbs-up motion. "No way," I said sounding confident enough that I couldn't quite believe it was me speaking. "Let's go kick their butts."

_-to be continued in the next installment-_


	28. The Rescue

**Author's Note**: I'm beginning to get excited. I don't know what my orignal plans for this story might have been, but as of now I've completely re-invented how I want things to happen and despite my lack of knowledge for this fandom I will admit I am impressed with myself for once, haha. Anyway, I have things planned out and I see an end in the future. I'm determined to see this through to the end, and I'd be flattered if you'd stick around for it as well.

* * *

_The child sat next to her father, watching him with unfaltering interest as he moved his brush skillfully. His handwriting was impeccable, and even though she was too young to know anything about proper penmanship, she knew it was something worth admiring._

_ "Papa, that's really pretty. I bet you're the best at what you do." the child said, grinning as she dipped a wandering finger in the ink jar._

_ Her father laughed and set the brush down, patting his hand against his child's hair. There was still ink on his fingers, and it rubbed off atop her head. He laughed._

_ "No, but I try my best," he told her gently. She didn't look convinced. Reaching over, she grabbed the brush. She was disappointed to see she had a difficult time holding it. Her hands were tiny, the tool felt awkward in her fingers._

_ Everything about her was tiny._

_ "Are you interested in your papa's field now, Sada?" the father asked, grinning. Shrugging, the girl set the brush down and shied away._

_ "No, my hands are too small."_

_ "You'll grow." he told her reassuringly._

_ "No, I won't." she replied, poking her lip out in a pouting gesture._

_ Her father, still offering her that same soft smile, cocked his head and asked gently, "What do you want to be, then, Sada?"_

_ The girl sat in silence, considering the question with a great weight. Her father was patient. finally, she said,_

_ "A giant."_

_ Her father laughed. Looking up with large brown eyes, the girl couldn't seem to understand why her father was laughing at her._

_ The man picked his child up and set her on his shoulders, spinning her playfully. The girl laughed in delight and gripped to her father's head steadfastly._

_ "I think," he said in between her laughter, "You will make a fine giant one day, Sadako."_

We knew exactly where we were going.

I ran in the center of the loose formation, Gai and another nin by the name of Otome were to each of my sides. The others ran ahead, scouting. I was impressed by their skill. We hadn't been searching fifteen minutes before they caught sight of a trail. We were instantly following whatever clues indicated the direction our teammates had ventured.

We were speedy, too. I was having a hard time keeping up with the others, but I was determined not to be the one who was constantly asking for breaks. My calves were killing me by the time we took to the tree tops and began hopping from branch to branch. Honestly, it was a little embarrassing because I kept slipping or stumbling.

I held my own, though. I lagged behind a little the further we went, but no one seemed annoyed with me. For that I was really grateful.

All the harsh silence in the atmosphere really reminded me of the days me and my teammates spent on our first "serious" missions. We hadn't talked much then. It was only we had gotten to know each other we began cutting up.

Those were really good times.

They seem so long ago, now, though...

I shook my head and tried to remain focused. The real reason we were on this mission.

The _Konohagakure Chokugaku_.

Earlier when we had started off on our venture to locate our comrades, I had asked Gai if he knew anything about the scroll other than "it's really, really important." He had said it held many secrets and important historical documents about our village. It also contained some deadly skills and jutsus and even deadlier _summoning _jutsus.

More summoning? Didn't this group of nutballs get enough of that during their first escapade with the original scroll I was accidentally protecting?

It didn't seem to make much sense to me. Why were they going through all this trouble for something so stupid?

I could only assume the answer was written inside the _Konohagakure Chokugaku_ itself.

In all honesty, I really had no desire to find out. I was beginning to get sick of all these "advanced" and "deadly" techniques that came from these things. As far as I was concerned, whoever thought writing down a list of really, really good ways to kill people was an idiot. I'd spent my entire life lugging scrolls around, and in the past week or so of my life they seem to have been escalating in level of annoyance at an alarming rate. But, despite this...I had a responsibility. It was ultimately my fault the scroll was in the hands of the enemy, naturally I had to take actions to rectify this.

So, I was convicted.

I wouldn't run home with my tail in between my legs. I was going to help. Damned if I ran into Kisame.

_ I really don't want to run into Kisame..._

Oh, get over it! Why should you care? Kisame's a selfish idiot anyway!

Yeah, but...

I hated the way things had ended.

I hated that I hadn't said anything better for closure.

Most of all, I hated that despite everything, I still missed him. I still wanted to speak with him. To make fun of him and his stupid sword. I wanted to accidentally change the channel to adult oriented shows and cause him to turn that specific shade of pink. I wanted to run off in the rain and get him cold medicine every time he got sick. I wanted to be held by him while I was standing shin deep in freezing water. I wanted him to stroke my hair and call me an idiot in that same patronizing yet oddly affectionate tone he always seemed to take with me...

Geez, when did I get so sentimental?

Over a giant walking shark, of all things...

I shook my head.

As much as I tried, I could not bring myself to hate him.

We stopped quite suddenly when the forest had begun to die. Jumping from the branches we landed in silence. The man in front signaled for us to follow, he said in a hushed voice that he thought we were close.

Beyond the forest the earth grew jagged and rocky. There were hills and mountains close to us, I could hear rushing water far in the distance. Perhaps there was a canyon nearby.

We stayed close together and began to work our way through the dramatic crevices in some of the stone walls. They were thick, but once we got to the other side my initial assumption was confirmed. There was a large canyon spreading across at least two hundred feet. It was equally deep, the bottom had a thin river running through it.

The rocks were too thick and scattered. I could tell by the way they were splintered that it hadn't been naturally. There had been a fight here.

"We'll descend," one of the trackers said, eying the cavern with a determined expression. He looked up and pointed to me and Otome.

"You two will scout around the edges quietly, looking for any entrances. I can sense several high level chakras, our teammates are here. You two will be in charge of finding them and the scroll. Don't be seen. The rest of us will act as the front line," he paused and looked back down into the canyon. "Keep your guard up."

While I was secretly grateful I wouldn't be expected to fight, I also felt a sudden sensation of disappointment. Go get the scroll. Find the others.

Well, I guess it was at least a realistic task for me...

The three of them descended down a narrow ledge in meticulous precision. Otome was beside me, she gave me a reassuring look.

"Come on, then," she said, her magnificent blue eyes flashed in the same determined way the tracker's had. "Let's try to be swift."

Something about her confidence reassured me. I nodded. She pointed in two directions. She would be descending from the eastern ledge, looking near the large cracked boulders for any entrance ways. I would take the northwestern walls, near the thinner caverns that snaked through the massive chunks of earth.

I jogged around the edge of the canyon, feeling the rush of adrenaline course through me. I could feel a cold sweat gather on the back of my neck and my palms, though I wouldn't let myself be fazed.

Come on, Sadako, you can do this. This is important. You can do this, just keep focused and try to detect any unusual chakra levels.

I took a deep breath and began a clumsy yet thankfully quiet decent down a rocky ledge way. I don't know how long it took me to climb down, but it felt like an eternity. My hands were shaking, and I forced myself not to look down. Honestly I was scared out of my pants, but keeping my eyes on the wall ahead of me helped out quite a bit.

I let out a shaky breath when my feet hit the uneven earth of the cavern floor. I looked up, seeing exactly how high I had climbed from, and a swelling of pride grew inside of me. I wasn't looking forward to the climb back up, but I told myself to worry about that later.

I gave myself only a few minutes to recover from the queasiness in my stomach before I began tracing along the walls of the cavern, pressing my palms flat against the hard stone.

I shut my eyes and tried to concentrate.

Come on, Sadako...do you sense anything?

No.

Open your eyes then, doofus. Do you _see _anything at least?

Yeah. Dirt. Lots and lots of dirt.

I furrows my brows and examined a thin black crevice in the side of the wall. There were a few gnarly roots jutting from the sides, entangled among themselves. I walked over and took a closer look. It was a small crevice. It would be a tight fit.

For a normal sized adult, anyway.

Going on a gut feeling, I sucked in a breath and squeezed through the crevice. It was surprisingly easier then I would have guessed, even for someone of my size. As I continued deeper into the cave like crevice, it grew pitch black.

I felt roots and moss brush against my face and ankles, and...

...Oh, my God something just scurried against my toes!

_ I want out I want out I want out I want ou-_

Calm down, meathead! You're almost there!

Sucking it up, I bit my lower lip to keep from squealing and pressed onward. How on God's grand earth I managed I will never know.

I was gratified with a trickle of light in the distance. Elated, I forced myself forward and saw an exit.

I peeked through the jagged Sadako-sized hole and gasped.

_Toshiyo!_

Wait, no, not just him...everyone was there. I slunk back and pressed myself flat against the wall. They all looked dead. Masked cracked, skin pale. They were awake and conscious, however. A thick line of blue chakra kept them from moving.

Prisoners? But why? Why wouldn't they just have killed them?

I shook my head, deciding to wonder about the details later. The important thing was they were all alive. Peeking out again, I surveyed the area.

Well, that was weird.

There wasn't anyone else there. At all.

I waited in silence for a few more moments, straining my eyes and ears for any sign of life. There was none.

I don't like the look of this...

Despite myself, I crept from the shadows and edged towards my bound comrades. The tensed when they saw, obviously surprised it was me. I locked eyes with Toshiyo.

"Sadako...!"

I almost didn't recognize him at first without his mask. His hair was trim and fashionably short, a deep maroon. His eyes, which were now riddled with obvious unspoken questions, were a deep green. The colour of the sea.

I grinned and made a reassuring waving motion as I hopped on down to where they were.

"Hey," I whispered. Toshiyo shook his head and gave me a chastising glance.

"What are you doing here?" he hissed, though he did have a hint of relief in his voice.

I rolled my eyes and reached to touch the chakra rope. I immediately pulled my hand away. It burned.

"Where are the others? Are they with you?" Kurenai piped in. I shook my head.

"They're outside somewhere, still trying to get in."

"Go get them. Bring them here quickly, Sadako," Toshiyo said sternly.

Now wait just a minute, I think I was doing a pretty good job with this rescue thing all on my own...

I frowned and stood back up, looking around the area. "Do you know where the scroll is?" I asked.

Toshiyo frowned. "Sadako, just do what I say for once."

"The blonde man took off with it. He was trying to get it to unlock, but he couldn't open it."

I looked over at the man who had spoken, feeling grateful.

Bending over, I examined the chakra rope. If I could break it myself, I wouldn't have to waste any time going to find the others.

Er, a good plan in theory...

...but that required some technical skill that I frankly did not posses. After mulling it over, I gave up and quickly darted back to the crevice, not looking forward to the venture through it again.

However, just as I had squeezed into the hole, I heard something behind me.

Turning, I peeped through the crevice and saw two figures enter the room where my teammates were still tied up.

One of them I immediately recognized by the light blonde hair and girlish features. Scroll in hand, Deidara entered and walked passed the group of bound shinobi with little interest. He seemed annoyed about something as he set the scroll down against the cavern wall.

The other...

I held my breath.

It was Kisame.

_-to be continued in the next installment-_


End file.
